SilverStone Treasure TS07 HDD Enclosure Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone Technology
Product Name: Treasure TS07
Model Number: SST-TS07B
Price As Tested:$39.99 (NewEgg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by SilverStone Technology.

The TS07 External 3.5” HDD enclosure allows you to grab one of the many 3.5” mechanical hard drives you might happen to have laying around, and use it as instant portable storage as long as you have access to a USB port. The device clearly performs better with USB 3.0 over 2.0. Of course, if you happen to have 3.5” SSDs laying around, then you can use those too.

SilverStone was founded in 2003, and has a very long list of products that it has manufactured, from mice and fans to computer cases and power supplies. SilverStone's philosophy is to ensure that their “expertise is delivered to all products with consistency, in response to user's needs and with maximum user satisfaction.” SilverStone has its headquarters in Taiwan, and branch offices in the USA, and Germany.

This 3.5" hard disk drive enclosure has a black anodized aluminum body with glossy black plastic end-caps and a clear stand. The concept is simple, open the case, plug in your SATA 3.5" drive, and via 5Gbit/s USB 3.0 super speed interface you get access to your data. Or is it that simple? Benchmark Reviews plugs the SilverStone TS07 External USB 3.0 enclosure in and tests it out.

SilverStone TS07 Features

• 5Gbits USB 3.0 Super Speed transfer rate.

• Support 3.5” SATA III SSD or hard drive

• An entirely tool-less design.

• Maximum compatibility with USB2.0 (480Mbits)

*Features and certification per Box literature.

SilverStone TS07 Specifications

*Features and certification per SilverStone product literature at website.

Closer Look: Exterior

The TS07 arrived well protected and unharmed. The packaging itself is quite nice with full color on all sides. You will also notice clearly the advertised 5Gbits USB 3.0 Super Speed transfer rate and 5 Gbits data transfer speed via SATA III interface right on the box.

The manual includes a multi-language product overview and installation guide. The guide is simple and straight forward. One advantage is that there is no software required to get the TS07 working.

An important limitation noted in the manual is that support is for "SATA hard drive up to 2TB capacity." There also appears to be an error in the manual that suggests "eSata port are requires on your computer"[sic]. The important error being the requirement for eSATA, as there is no eSATA on this device.

The kit includes a 12VDC plug-in adapter. This adapter is required for the unit to function. I was not able to use the device even with a low power SSD such as the ADATA N004 in place. The N004 functions without any external power normally in any 3.0 port. But, in the TS07 the adapter must be used. The USB 3.0 cable is 40” (101.6mm) long.

The TS07 features an anodized black aluminum exterior with glossy black end-caps. The surface is slightly resistant to the typical fingerprint, but it does retain a slight impression wherever you touch it.

Below we can see the release mechanism for the tray. Slide the release then push into the case, and the tray will slide out of the other side of the enclosure.

The TS07 places all of the ports and jacks on one side of the case. The green LED will turn on to indicate the drive is on, and also it will blink on and off to indicate data transfer. In a way I am glad the power LED is on the back end of the case because the blinking would probably be distracting.

Closer Look: Interior

The inside of the SilverStone Treasure TS07 is completely black anodized. All of the edges were finished. There were no sharp edges. Once you open the case, the tray is revealed.

The tray is designed to fit only 3.5” drives. It is possible to insert a 2.5” SATA drive but there are no built in methods for holding a 2.5” drive in place. The orange mounting bracket is rotated and then the pins insert into the standard screw holes located on the sides of the drive. The mechanism is very easy to use and locks in place with a good solid feel. The tray itself is designed to prevent accidental reverse mounting of the drive. Here we see the electronic components of the USB enclosure:

Components are placed on both sides of the PCB.

Readers already familiar with many of the USB 3.0 enclosures will recognize the asmedia ASM1051E. This popular chip is found on many enclosures to bridge USB 3.0 and 2.0 to serial ATA.

Test Overview

For this review we will be using the ADATA S511 120GB SSD and N004 Nobility 64GB SSD / flash drive. The ADATA S511 is reviewed here by Benchmark Reviews. We see that claimed speeds are 550MB/s read and 510MB/s write. Actual test scores were slightly better in the review.

The ADATA N004 Nobility is somewhat unique in that it is a flash drive that has both SATA II, and USB 3.0 interfaces built in. According to the manufactures specification it is capable of 230MB/s Seq Read, and 130MB/s Seq Write on the SATA II interface. For USB 3.0, it claims 180MB/s Seq Read and 150 MB/s Seq Write.

Important note: The SilverStone Treasure TS07 does not support a 2.5” SSD drive unless you purchase an aftermarket add-on. SilverStone markets this as the SDP09 available for around $16.99.

USB 3.0 is a vast improvement over USB 2.0. Theoretically USB 3.0 is capable of 4.8 Gbits/s (600Megabytes/s) versus high-speed USB 2.0 which is limited to 480Mbits/s (60 Megabytes/s). Protocol overhead will limit the actual bandwidth significantly. For portability, the USB port currently reigns supreme because it is ubiquitous. While e-SATA could also be a contender, many computers cases do not yet include this port.

How well does the TS07 USB 3.0 enclosure score? Let's look at the tests.

Testing Methodology

Prior to each benchmark the ADATA S511 is zero filled, and the benchmark is run. If the software requires an active partition then this will be performed. A minimal Windows 7 environment is run to ensure repeatability. At least 3 runs are performed for each test.

The ADATA N004 Nobility is a working drive with 60% data on it. This SSD is interesting because it ships with both SATA II and USB 3.0 on it. Thus the obvious question – which is faster, the built in USB 3.0 or using SATA II in the SilverStone Treasure TS07.

• Case: Thermaltake Armor MX VH8000

• Motherboard: EVGA SR-2 Dual Xeon

• System Memory: 16 GB ECC RAM

• Processor: Dual Intel E5620 CPU @ 2.4 Ghz

• Video: ATI Radeon 4850

• Highpoint RocketRAID 2720SGL

• Primary Drive: ADATA S511 120GB SSD, #1

• Test Drive: ADATA S511 120 GB SSD, #2

• Test Drive: ADATA N004 60GB, approximately 60% used.

• Monitor (Primary): Hanns·G HZ281HPB WideScreen LCD 27.5"

  • Connection: supplied DVI to HDMI

• Monitor (Secondary) Acer AL2216W 22"

  • Connection: DVI

• Operating System: Win 7, 64-bit

*Special note: The onboard SATA III of the EVGA SR-2 is powered by the Marvel 9128 Chipset.
Please see this article which provides significant detail as to the nature of the problem.

For this reason, a Highpoint RocketRAID 2720SGL was used to test baseline speeds of the ADATA S511.

Test Results: ATTO DISK BENCHMARK

The ATTO Disk Benchmark program is free, and offers a comprehensive set of test variables to work with. In terms of disk performance, it measures interface transfer rates at various intervals for a user-specified length and then reports read and write speeds for these spot-tests. There are some minor improvements made to the 2.46 version of the program that allow for test lengths up to 2GB, but all of our benchmarks are conducted with 256MB total length. ATTO Disk Benchmark requires that an active partition be set on the drive being tested. Please consider the results displayed by this benchmark to be basic bandwidth speed performance indicators.

The RocketRaid 2720 will allow us to test a single disk when configured as JBOD, and establish the upper baseline of transfer speed.

Here we see the baseline for ADATA S511 using the Highpoint RocketRaid 2720SGL. If you had a chance to read the ADATA S511 review, please note that the RocketRaid 2720 does not perform quite as well in single disk JBOD as compared to an integrated Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s controller in AHCI. But it is far better than the the Marvel controller on the EVGA SR-2.

The SilverStone USB 3.0 Enclosure powers out a respectable 234MB/s read, and 187MB/s write.

Now lets look at the N004 using the on-board USB 3.0 and compare it directly to the SilverStone.

We see sequential read of 196MB/sec and writes of 137MB/sec as our baseline for the EVGA SR-2 USB 3.0.

Here we see that the SilverStone TS07 slightly outperforms the N004. This should not be terribly surprising because it turns out the N004 uses the asmedia ASM1051 bridge chip, a slightly older generation of the chip used in the SilverStone enclosure.

Test Results: CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark 3.0 is a file transfer and operational bandwidth benchmark tool from Crystal Dew World that offers performance transfer speed results using sequential, 512KB random, and 4KB random samples. For our test results chart below, the 4KB 32-Queue Depth read and write performance was measured using a 1000MB space. CrystalDiskMark requires that an active partition be set on the drive being tested, and the S511 drive is formatted with NTFS. Benchmark Reviews uses CrystalDiskMark to illustrate operational IOPS performance with multiple threads. In addition to our other tests, this benchmark allows us to determine operational bandwidth under heavy load. Let's look at the CrystalDiskMark Scores:

This is the Highpoint RocketRAID 2720 with the ADATA S511. It is interesting to note that all scores above except the Seq Read actually matches closely or exceeds the scores of the same model drive using an Asus P8P67 here. This makes me feel a lot better about the RocketRaid 2720. However, I would be cautious in drawing any specific conclusions as they are not the same test bed. Nevertheless, we now have a very good idea of the upper limit of transfer speeds for the ADATA S511.

This is the ADATA S511 in the TS07 Enclosure using USB 3.0. This gives us a good idea of the upper limit of performance for the SilverStone enclosure.

This shows the ADATA N004 Nobility using the onboard USB 3.0 of the EVGA SR-2. Read performance is close to the ADATA S511 which suggests that the limit of either the bridge chip or the USB 3.0 interface itself is close to being reached. If I had access to another device that used something besides an asmedia based bridge chip, as well as a separate PCI-E USB 3.0 port, I think this could be solved.

This is the ADATA N004 Nobility using the SilverStone USB 3.0 Enclosure. If we recall, the N004 has an older asmedia chip, which allows the SSD's SATA II to bridge to the USB 3.0 port, where as the Silverstone has a newer version. So, we can test the N004 using its SATA II interface bridged to USB 3.0 in the SilverStone, and compare it to the N004 bridged internally to USB 3.0 using the older chip design. Performance of the N004 with the SATA II to USB 3.0 via the SilverStone TS07 is very slightly better than the N004's built-in USB 3.0, again suggesting that the older asmedia chip in the N004 slightly lags in performance compared to the newer chip in the SilverStone.

Test Results: Everest Disk Benchmark

The EVEREST Disk Benchmark performs linear read and write bandwidth tests on each drive, and can be configured to use file chunk sizes up to 1MB (which speeds up testing and minimizes jitter in the waveform). Because of the full sector-by-sector nature of linear testing, Benchmark Reviews endorses this method for testing SSD products, as detailed in our Solid State Drive Benchmark Performance Testing article. However, Hard Disk Drive products suffer a lower average bandwidth as the capacity draws linear read/write speed down into the inner-portion of the disk platter. EVEREST Disk Benchmark does not require a partition to be present for testing, so all of our benchmarks are completed prior to drive formatting.

The Highpoint RocketRaid 2720GSL has exceptionally smooth Linear Read performance. We ran three tests and they were almost identical, although occasionally CPU usage varied slightly.

The linear write performance was also consistent over the three tests. It is possible that ADATA has worked out a few of the early kinks in the firmware. As none of the unusual behavior noted here in the earlier review has shown up.

Here we see the linear read performance for the ADATA S511 in the SilverStone TS07 USB 3.0 Enclosure.

And finally the linear write performance.

Overall the SilverStone enclosure has similar read and write speeds to other USB enclosures. Many of these enclosures also use the asmedia chip which might explain their very similar performance.

SilverStone TS07 Final Thoughts and Conclusions

IMPORTANT: Although the rating and final score mentioned in this conclusion are made to be as objective as possible, please be advised that every author perceives these factors differently at various points in time. The author's experience with the product may differ significantly from your own. While we each do our best to ensure that all aspects of the product are considered, there are often times unforeseen market conditions and manufacturer changes which occur after publication that could render our rating obsolete. Please do not base any purchase solely on our conclusion, as it represents our product rating specifically for the product tested which may differ from future versions.

One of the most important things about using a portable system is that it should work, simply and easily. And without having to install any extra drivers. The SilverStone TS07 performed flawlessly during its testing. I never had to worry about installing any additional drivers to get it to work.

I liked the SilverStone's overall appearance and combination of black anodized aluminum and glossy black plastic. However the fact this enclosure does not include a 2.5” drive adapter and requires the purchase of this adapter to use the very common 2.5” SSD should be noted.The Supplied USB cable is not quite long enough for your typical desktop user especially because most USB 3.0 ports are still at the back of the computer.

Additionally, several 2.5” enclosures are capable of powering the SSD via the USB port alone. Yet, the SilverStone was unable to do this. Therefore, it requires an 12VDC adapter at all times, reducing potential portability. One could make the argument that the primary focus of this USB Enclosure is larger 3.5” mechanical drives. Adding 2.5” capability will broaden its appeal.

The case itself has no fan to ventilate the internal drive. If the focus of this enclosure is in fact the 3.5” mechanical drives, then clearly a fan would be helpful especially because many of the older 3.5” mechanical drives run hot.

Overall, performance was at least as good as other USB 3.0 units I have seen. The newer asmedia ASM1051E performs slightly better than its older version.

The unit tested without any hiccups. All the drives were recognized using the Windows 7 64-bit OS. Testing was not performed for any other operating systems.

It is important to note that the negatives and the positives listed here may not be the same as your own. For example, I am disheartened that the packaging advertises 5Gbit/s USB 3.0 but clearly, the device is limited to around 234MB/s based on the benchmarks. So, I am deducting some points for this. Some people may be content with those scores knowing that they are quite good for a USB 3.0 enclosure. My preference is to be more conservative in advertising, and care should be taken to make sure that the purchaser is getting the rated speed of the drive not the theoretical rating of the bus or interface. Each plus or minus listed should be measured by your own personal meter, and then you can decide if this case is worth your money.

Overall, for a USB 3.0 Enclosure specifically for 3.5” drives, $39.99 (NewEgg) is a fair deal.

Pros:

+ Solid Construction.
+ Easy to Use.
+ Multi-platform support.
+ No software drivers required.

Cons:

- USB cord not long enough for most desktop installs.
- Not designed to hold 2.5” drives without additional purchase.
- No fan to cool mechanical drives.
- No Warranty visible in packaging.
- Advertised 5Gbits USB speeds not seen on testing.
- Requires 12V adapter to be plugged in.

Ratings:

• Performance: 8.50
• Appearance: 8.75
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 8.25
• Value: 8.00

Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum .

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