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Closer Look, Testing and Final Thoughts Page 2 of 2
Closer Look:
Say what you want to about Thermaltake, they always make products that look good, are functional and work quite well. The BlacX is no exception. While it is a simple design, it's one that I haven't seen done before and the idea and execution is excellent. The back of the unit is simple with a push-button on/off switch next to the power and USB connectors; nothing too exciting on the backside. The top profile shows the door that springs inward to allow installation of a 3.5" HDD. Smaller 2.5" HDDs simply slide through the access hole in the top and are secured by the edges of this hole.
BlacX - Back
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BlacX - Empty
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3.5" Hard Drives are installed by pushing down the spring-loaded door on the top of the BlacX. This spring-loaded mechanism feels very solid and helps keep the drive secure when sticking up out of the dock. Drive installation takes about 5 seconds and you can swap drives just about that fast.
BlacX In Use
Testing & Usage:
As this is purely a USB Mass Storage Device, there is no software or driver installation required in Windows 2000, XP or Vista and when you plug in the USB cable for the first time, Windows will install the drivers automatically. When you swap drives, the removed drive will disappear from "My Computer" until you drop in a new drive. Within seconds you're good to go with the new drive. This works very slick and is extremely handy if you've got a few drives lying around that you want to get data on and off of without installing in a system or an external enclosure. The BlacX is also much handier than some USB to SATA/IDE adapters that require an extra cable ran for power. While these other adapters are smaller, they generally end up in a tangle of cables and are frustrating.
Drive removal is as simple as holding onto the base while pulling up on the drive. You can press the front eject button if required, but I found that it was just as easy to pull the drive straight up to remove it.
We tested the performance of the BlacX with HDTach and compared the results to the same drive when used internally on a SATA connection. We are using an older SATA 1.5Mbps drive - a WD2000JB as USB performance will limit SATA3.0 drives and the performance of a Raptor would be wasted on the USB interface.
The performance of the BlacX is pretty much what we expected. Random access times are measured at 0.1ms longer on the USB device but CPU load is a bit higher. The internal drive reports 2% CPU load with 41.6MB/s average read with a burst rate of 98.8MB/s. The BlacX reports 9% CPU load with 32.4MB/s average read with a burst rate of 34.0MB/s.
As you can see, if you have an older drive, performance is pretty good when compared to the same drive connected internally.
Final Thoughts:
The Thermaltake BlacX is a handy hard drive dock that makes switching drives fast, simple and convenient. It makes hot-swapping external drives a snap and provides good performance combined with good looks. It works with both 2.5" and 3.5" hard drives making it one of the more useful external hard drive devices around. Because drive installation is completely tool-less, you can swap drives in seconds for greater productivity. There is really nothing bad to say about this product as far as its features and functionality go, but I would like to see an eSATA version of this dock in the future. That way you will get the convenience of eSATA Hot-Swap and performance that goes hand-in-hand with the simplicity and usefulness of the BlacX.
Pros:
- Works with both 2.5" and 3.5" HDDs
- Simple and fast drive installation
- Good performance over USB2.0
- Attractive looks and solid construction
Cons:
I'd like to thank Thermaltake for sending over the BlacX for us to review. This has been a handy dock already and is worth the purchase price.
Please feel free to post your thoughts, comments and questions in the forum at the "Comments" link below.
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