A few days ago I took a look at a nice
2.5” enclosure from HornetTek, the Travel Plus, today I’ve got the
Travel Lite from HornetTek as well. As the name suggests, the Travel
Lite is is lightweight, it’s primarily made of plastic, it also has
the integrated USB cable as well like the Travel Plus does.
So read on to learn more…
Product
Name: HornetTek Travel Lite 2.5” SATA to USB External Enclosure
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: HornetTek
Tech
Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
HornetTek
Travel Lite 2.5” SATA to USB External Enclosure
Overview:
The Travel Lite is set to
attract the eyes of user at first glance. The Travel Lite
incorporates top quality design with ABS plastic and slim trimming,
which make the Travel Lite a compact storage device that is perfect
for any user.
If you are a business traveler
or a professional user on the go, you need an external storage system
that can work as hard as you do. The Travel Lite features an easy to
use, built-in USB 2.0 cable design. Integrated USB cable brings
convenience to travel without AC adapters or messy USB cables.
The Travel Lite is equipped
with USB 2.0 and supports up to 480 Mb/sec transfer speed As with all
USB 2.0 systems the Traveler Lite is also backward compatible to USB
1.1 speed. Hot swappable, plug and play is the key convenience
feature that sets the Traveler Plus apart from other storage device.
Features:
* Universal fitting for 2.5”
SATA HDD device
* LED power and status
indicator
* SATA I / II specification
* Complies with the USB-IF
specifications for USB 2.0, the USB Mass Storage Class, and the USB
Mass Storage Class Bulk-Only Transport.
* SATA to USB2.0, Backward
compatible to USB v1.1
* Works with PC and MAC.
* FCC/CE Compliant
* RoHS certified
* OS Supports Win
2000/XP/Vista, and Mac OS 9.x/10.x and above.
* Power: 5V /0.5A USB to DC
cable
* Material: ABS 94V0 front and
back panel and housing.
Specifications:
Model: Travel-Lite
Interface/Ports: USB 2.0
(USB1.1)
Data Transfer: USB 2.0 up to
480Mbps (60MB/s) USB 1.1 up to 12Mbps (1.5MB/s)
Plug and Play: Yes
Material: Rigid ABS plastic
HDD Support: 2.5″ SATA
I/II
System Support: Supports
Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000 /XP/Vista, Linux 2.4.1.0 or above and
Macintosh OS 8.6 or higher
Size (LxWxH): 173 x 73 x 16mm
CE/FCC: CE/FCC Approved
RoHS compliancy: RoHS Approved
Package Contents:
1. The Travel Lite Unit
2. Pouch
3. Y-USB extender cable
4. User manual
A
Better Look at Things:
The HornetTek Travel Lite comes in
a nice little box with pictures and information on it.
Inside we find the Travel Lite
protected with a piece of foam and wrapped in a bag, also inside we
find a USB cable, carrying case, user manual and screws for
installation.
The Travel Lite is made of
plastic, on the front is a semi-round pattern with the HornetTek
logo, and an LED that lights up when powered on.
One thing I like about this
enclosure is the integrated USB cable so you don’t have to carry one
with you, though HornetTek does include one in case you need extra
power for the hard drive.
Installation,
Testing and Comparison:
Installation for me was easy, I’ve
got all kinds of assorted sizes of screwdrivers on hand, but other
might find trouble finding a screwdriver small enough to fit the
screws used with this product. Many other companies include a small
screwdriver to help with this problem, would have been nice had
HornetTek did the same.
I used the same hard drive for the
Travel Lite as I did for the Travel Plus, a 160GB 2.5” Seagate.
First thing you need to do is open
the case up, it slides backwards to remove the top, you also get a
nice view of the PCB and USB cable as well now.
To install the hard drive you just
slide it into the connection on the circuit board.
When using the Travel Lite there’s
a blue indicator on the top, it resembles the symbol for power.
I mentioned it in my review of the
Travel Plus, but it pertains here as well, the case is nice but I
wouldn’t use your hard drive while in the case as it insulates it,
especially with this one since it’s made of plastic.
I’ve got a few other enclosures
floating around so I figured why not compare them to see how they
perform, I used SiSoft Sandra 2009 Sp2 Removable Storage Benchmark,
the same hard drive was used for all testing of course. Higherr
scores are better.
As you can see according to Sandra
the Travel Lite comes in third place, with actually the HornetTek
Travel Plus coming in first or fastest.
Here’s the 256MB files test:
Both HornetTek enclosures are
equally matched here, but both of the other enclosures perform a bit
better when it comes to Read Performance.
I’m not quite sure I like the fact
that it’s made of plastic, plastic is insulating, which means it
won’t dissipate the heat from your hard drive, there’s also no vents
either in the case to help keep the hard drive cool, might be fine
for brief periods of use but I wouldn’t use it for any type of long
duration.
Summary
and Comments:
The HornetTek Travel Lite 2.5”
Enclosure is very lightweight and it seems sturdy and rugged, the
integrated USB and included carrying case are nice features as well.
Not sure about using a plastic
case with no ventilation though for something like a hard drive, the
plastic will insulate the drive and keep the heat in.
DragonSteelMods gives the
HornetTek Travel Lite of 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Small and lightweight
-Integrated USB cable
-Includes carrying case
-Fairly easy install
Cons:
-Plastic is not the best for heat
transfer
-No ventilation holes or slits
-No tools included for
installation
I
would like to thank HornetTek for the chance to review the Travel
Lite and for their continued support of DSM.
review# 565