Review: Custom-Built Portable Storage
StarTech.com's new InfoSafe line of high-performance mobile drive enclosures lets ordinary hard drives be used as hot-swappable units, and also allows them to be used externally. The enclosures are available in different models that support 2.5-, 3.5- and 5.25-inch drives; all of them support IDE drives and have a USB 2.0 interface. There's also a 3.5-inch version that supports SATA drives.
Test Center engineers focused on StarTech's 2.5-inch enclosure with a one-button backup function; it costs $39.99. The enclosure is compatible with USB 2.0 and offers data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps; it's also backward compatible with USB 1.1. The enclosure is designed for use with 2.5-inch IDE hard drives that are between 9.5mm and 12mm in height. It can be used with either Mac or PC operating systems. Drivers are supplied for Windows 98SE, while more recent Windows operating systems do not need drivers. The one-button backup function does not work with Macs.
InfoSafe draws its power from the USB port it's plugged into. If the computer reports low-power messages, a second supplied USB cable will provide the necessary power.
InfoSafe gives system builders the flexibility to choose any capacity hard drive. The enclosure was tested using a new 160 Gbyte Seagate hard drive. It took only a minute to install the drive in the enclosure.
The InfoSafe enclosure comes with software that enables the one-button backup function. Installing the software is optional, but it allows automated backups for ensured security. System builders might want to build an InfoSafe enclosure for themselves to carry important files with them to job sites.
