Conclusion:
The
HornetTek Hover 3.5" SATA USB enclosure is a great choice for someone that is looking to increase hard drive space. The active cooling should help to extend the life of your hard drive, and the enclosure itself feels robust enough to survive being placed in a bag and carried from one location to the next. I did not perform a drop test, however I expect a hard drive would survive being knocked off a desk.
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There are a few things I did not care for about the Hover enclosure. The first issue is that it is not tool-less. A tool-less enclosure makes installation much easier and allows the user a way to quickly change drives if needed. The second, potentially serious issue is how the drive is ejected from the enclosure. The first time I used the eject lever the drive popped out of the enclosure and slid about three feet across the desk. I did not flip the lever up hard or fast, but it is clear that the user should be very careful how they eject the drive; eject it wrong and your drive could land on the floor.
Performing a quick search of the Internet finds the HornetTek Hover 3.5" SATA USB enclosure available for around $40 (US), including
goHardDrive.com where the shipping is free. In this range it is a bit more expensive than some 3.5" hard drive enclosures, but those may not include active cooling or such a stylish design.
Taking into consideration the performance, active cooling, unique design, and the above mentioned concerns, I award the HornetTek Hover 3.5" SATA USB enclosure the rating of "Recommended".
Pros:
» Innovative design
» Dual 50mm cooling fans
» Good performance (maxes out USB 2.0)
Cons:
» Ejection method could use some work
» Not Tool-less
Special thanks to
HornetTek for providing the HornetTek Hover 3.5" SATA USB Enclosure to Bigbruin.com for review!
