The latest piece of technology to see a significant drop in prices has been the 2.5 size hard drives. You can easily pick up a SATA 60 GB drive for around $50. If you want to use one of these drives as an external hard drive, you will need a proper enclosure. Zonet has come out with enclosure that is both utilitarian and sexy at the same time. The Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure provides a solidly constructed protective case that is also pretty nice to look at. In addition, it is lightweight and compact.
One of the additional features touted by Zonet is that this Enclosure is Xbox360 and PS3 supported. This is a nice feature to have, if you want to transfer or view media on your gaming consoles.
So lets see how the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure stacks up against some other USB devices.
Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure Review
Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas
Sponsor: Zonet
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Zonet 2.5" USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure
Turn virtually any standard 2.5" hard drive into an external combo SATA and USB 2.0 Hard Drive with Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather 2.5 SATA Enclosure. Use it to share between multiple computers and/or store your collection of documents, photos, media files. This bus-powered enclosure provides USB 2.0/1.1 compatibility and is design to be compact and lightweight- perfect for people who are always on the go!
Features:
-Suitable for 2.5 SATA Drive
-Luxury Leather-Coated Case
-Compliant with USB 2.0 and 1.1 specifications
-Support up to 250GB SATA hard drive
-Data transfer rate of up to 30Mbps
-Hot-swappable plug & play
Warranty ONE (1) Year Manufacturer Warranty
Package Content
One ZNS8021
One Quick Installation Guide
One USB Cable
Price: $34.99 (approx)
{mospagebreak title=A Better Look at things}
A Better Look at Things
:
The Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure comes in a rectangular box with a picture of the enclosure seen on the bottom right hand area of the package. The basic features are also listed on the front of the box.
The rear of the packaging lists the specifications along with a picture of the back side of the enclosure.
Zonet gives a one year manufacturer warranty and mentions that the hard drive is not included.
Opening the package reveals a white rectangular box which opens to show the installation guide on top of the enclosure which is nestled in a square cardboard area in the center.
The drive in protected by a clear plastic bag. Underneath the drive, one finds a small screwdriver with four tiny screws and a double ended USB cable with a mini USB connector.
The Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure is powder blue leather with the Zonet logo embossed on the top left corner and the model number embossed on the bottom left just above a pair of light blue stitch lines. The bottom of the enclosure is wrapped with the same leather and a serial number sticker is found here. The ends are a mirror silver finish with two screws on each side. The unique thing about the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure is that the activity light is found on the rear of the enclosure next to the mini-USB port.
The enclosure feels solid and measures 5.03 x 3.15 x 0.51 inches and weighs 810 grams.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
Setting up the enclosure involves, unscrewing the back two screws, pulling the PCB board out of the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure.
The next step is attaching the hard drive to the connector and then sliding the drive and cover back into the enclosure.
Finally, you will need to tighten the screws. Apparently the extra set of screws that comes with the packaging is in case you lose the current screws that are already installed. The double ended USB cable does come in handy for times when one encounters a non powered USB port, thus giving the hard drive enough juice to operate. This is definitely a nice feature. Since it is composed of aluminum, the drive is able to dissipate heat and keep the SATA drive nice and cool.
I found the placement of the activity light on the back end of the enclosure to be a little peculiar, but it does not affect the function of the enclosure. The other issue I had is the color scheme of the leather. The powder blue is an unusual choice, since most laptops and portable devices are either silver, black, gray or white. For the next model, I would suggest they provide some color options. Otherwise, the leather is very nice looking.
The Zonet accurately advertises that it works with PS3 or the Xbox360. When I plugged the Zonet into my Xbox360 unit using only one USB connector, it was quickly detected by the Xbox360.
For testing, I used a 5400 rpm SATA 2.5 Seagate Drive pulled from my Mac Mini. For benchmarking, I used the SiSoftware Sandra Professional Business XI package, which we reviewed back in July.
For comparison, I used a Western Digital Passport 250 GB USB Drive, a Western Digital MyBook 500 GB USB Drive and a Seagate 500GB SATA drive that is housed in the Antec MX-1 enclosure.
Running the Physical Disk Benchmark, the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure with Seagate drive fared as well as both the 2.5 Passport and 3.5 MyBook with read performance. The Drive Index and Random Access Times were consistent across all three USB external hard drives, while the eSATA rightfully had the much higher Drive Index speed.
I also tested the Western Digital Passport 250 GB USB Drive and the Zonet enclosure held Seagate with HD Tach RW ver. 3.0.1.0. The Burst Speeds were pretty close in terms of speed with the Passport clocking in slightly faster and the Sequential Read Speeds showed a drop off around the 40GB range for the Zonet enclosed Seagate.
Summary:
The Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure is a nice enclosure to have. It is sturdy and the hard drive is much better protected from external trauma than with the plastic housing of the Western Digital Passport. The only negative I have with the product is that it only comes in one color and that color does not match most portable devices color schemes.
DragonSteelMods gives the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Solid construction
-Nice appearance
-Easy Installation of SATA Hard Drive
Cons:
-Only available in one color.
I would like to thank Zonet for the chance to review the Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure and for their support of DSM.
Questions, Discuss HERE
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