Maxit Mag - Coolermaster X Craft External Hard Drive Enclosure Review

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Coolermaster X Craft External Hard Drive Enclosure Review

Written by Maxit

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Coolermaster X Craft External Hard Drive Enclosure Review
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We gave the XCraft a quick blast via USB 2.0 to see how the multitrak technology performed. The USB interface coped well during large file transfers and provided around 32MB/s sustained transfer with bursts up to 37.7MB/s under HDTach 3.0 tests. Way below the SATA connection but above our Western Digital USB 2.0 7,200 8Meg cache 250GB enclosure.

Coolermaster XCraft HDTach 3.0 Results - 32mb file

Western Digital USB 2.0 Enclosure

The Western Digital USB 2.0 enclosure was on average around 2MB/s slower than the XCraft. Coolermaster have managed to squeeze every last drop of performance from the USB 2.0 interface. Impressive stuff!

The Bottom Line

Coolermaster have produced another fine addition to their award winning stable of hardware components. The XCraft external hard drive enclosure represents a stylish and well thought out storage solution. A great feature set with support for USB 2.0 and eSATA connections, one touch backup and hot swappable plug and play support make this a champion unit. The unique cooling design does away with the need for fans and keeps drive temperatures down during the longest sessions. The packaging oozes quality and includes all the cables needed to have the enclosure up and running in minutes. The aluminum finish is spot on and subtle touches like a cool blue led and black mesh grill add to the overall appeal. Tooless assembly, anti-shock spring loaded mounting for the hard disk and a thermal pad are the icing on the cake.

Once again Coolermaster have shown the rest how things should be done. If you need a quality external storage solution, the XCraft should be top of your list.

Pros