StarTech.com 3.5" External SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - Trayless - eSATA/USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1) Hard Drive Enclosure w/UASP (S351BMU33ET)

I now have three of these, two in use one for backup and I've been very pleased with their performance. In my practical testing of it I've found the speed difference between eSATA and USB 3.0, the fastest my PC supports, using a SATA III HDD, is minimal. That maybe one of the reasons why Startech decided to discontinue the eSATA support. However their replacement USB 3.1 Gen 2 only enclosure is not in the same class IMHO. The case for that even looks as if it was designed to support eSATA but they blanked off the port. The On/Off switch is a nasty looking, small cheap slider rather than the quality rocker type used for this case. It also reverts to a tray based HDD/SSD mounting design. It does mean that it is more suitable for dual 3.5" and 2.5" HDD/SSD use than the tray-less design this 3.5" only one has. But tray-less is undoubtedly more convenient if you need to replace/remove the HDD. It makes doing that almost as fast as a docking station. Now to the negatives: the cost of this is now questionable. They were already expensive enclosures and what you're doing now is importing a US spec version. That comes with, annoyingly, a fixed US mains plug on the PSU supplied. It is still a universal PSU ie. 100v - 240v but unlike the EU/UK version it does not come with any socket adapters built in or otherwise. It is just a simple US two prong design, apparently non-polarized but I've not tested that. So to the cost of the enclosure you need to add either a replacement UK 12v, identical spec UK PSU or, cheaper, a decent US to UK plug adapter. I've tried both solutions and I'd go with the latter. I bought a pair from Amazon which I'm probably not allowed to link too here but they mount the PSU firmly and as far as I've tested cause no problems. That's it really - still a good piece of kit for your external 3.5" HDDs but the total cost, which will undoubtedly rise for other reasons too, now makes it far less attractive than it once was. With 3.5" HDDs slowly becoming redundant in the face of similar capacity SSDs which can make full use of USB 3.1+ speed capabilities it is a bit of an indulgence.

Needed this for the eSata connection to add extra storage to a CCTV storage device. Nicely made, quick install of drive and works perfectly.

The unit is very sturdy and works straight out of the box. I have looked everywhere for an esata type and could only find this one. It comes with a USA type plug but a plug converter works fine with it.

Used as an E-sata expansion box for my NVR drive. Works really well, now for the And... Because it's only available from the USA, the price shoots up, and obviously the supplied adapter is USA plug. I bought a compatible UK plug with same voltage spec, but the barrel plug on most of the UK ones seem to be shorter, so I had to transplant and rewire to get a working adapter. With doing for my use case, but take the caveats onboard. One star taken off for having to source my own power and rewire the plug.

The plug it comes with is American. How can I exchange for a UK plug? Not sure why they’re selling this on the UK Amazon if the plug isn’t suitable for the UK.

This is an updated version of Startech Trayless - eSATA/USB 2.0 tool less HDD enclosure I've been using for years. I liked that and bought this because I wanted everything the old one did but with USB3 and UAS. However, it is shipped with a North American PSU, so there is no danger of using it as provided in the UK. Loose a star or two for that. Luckily the PSU on the old one is the same rating and polarity as the PSU on the new one. I'm not happy an having to use an old PSU while I get Amazon to supply a replacement/adaptor but it shouldn't be for very long.

After testing, the digital electronics seem good. It does get hot with high power hard drives (e.g. 7200 RPM drives ) as there is really little thermal connectivity between the drive and the metal outer case as it is basically in a bubble of air. As in another review, there is a place (under the back sticker) to install a 30mm by 10mm thick 12v fan (has fan retention clips, fan holes and, a fan grate), so I installed a Delta fan. Unfortunately, there is no fan header on the enclosure's motherboard, so I hardwired the fan to the motherboard's incoming positive terminal (with a disconnect so you can take the closure completely apart easily) and hardwired (splice) to the power switch wire (switched negative). Temperature dropped way down (50+C --> 35C).

The product is robust, well made, easy on the eye and keeps the hard drives very quiet. Love it!

Works wonderfully. I used it to add storage to a security video recorder.

The case works really well, just slip the hard drive in like it says. Simplest thing to use.

Using this as an external expansion to my camera system (8x cameras running at 1440p). Works great, wish it had active cooling for when it gets hot, but to be honest (in normal conditions) this thing is great. Tool-less install was nice. The included stand is table though I keep the drive horizontal for my use case. Fellow IT Admins - If you're going to keep this in the server room, keep in mind that if your cooling solution goes down for some reason, this enclosure will easily get overheated similar to your servers. If you're redundant, not an issue, and definitely worth looking into for event testing and temporary use.