| Thermaltake Blacx Docking Station N0028USU |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Storage | |
| Written by Larry Fraser - Edited by Olin Coles | |
| Sunday, 12 October 2008 | |
Thermaltake BlacX N0028USUEvery once in awhile a product comes along that makes you wonder why someone hadn't thought of it earlier. A product that makes so much sense yet is elegant in its simplicity. Today Benchmark Reviews takes a look at one such product, the Thermaltake BlacX. The BlacX is basically a very simple SATA to USB 2.0 adapter. What sets the BlacX apart from the typical cable style adapter is the docking station like design.
With the cost of SATA hard drives falling to unbelievable lows, the BlacX becomes a "ZIP drive" on steroids. While every computer user may not have a need for a product like the BlacX, those that do will love this little device. About the company: ThermaltakeFounded in 1999, Thermaltake Technology is the world leader in the supply of thermal management cooling solutions, high-end power supply and chassis for desktop PC and industrial application systems. Building on the strength of its people, products and extensive expertise in Thermal Management, Thermaltake raised the level of excellence on its Award Winning Purepower branded power supply as well as Xaser line of chassis. While mission-critical applications for Enterprises and ultimate video gaming experiences available for gaming enthusiasts all rely on today's cutting-edge PCs to deliver, high-end PC makers rely on Thermaltake to provide the most reliable power supply, the most thermally efficient chassis and cooling solutions. Thermaltake Technology Co., Ltd. started its core business based on our extensive knowledge of PC thermal management during the era where the area of performance CPU cooling was only exclusive for "overclockers" or PC enthusiasts. With the company's initial launch of Orb coolers, it created waves of shocks and appraisals throughout the gaming and overclocking communities. Thermaltake quickly became the name gamers turn to when they need high-end and reliable thermal solutions. With company's core business of CPU cooling still growing at a vast rate, Thermaltake made another grand entry to the PC chassis industry. To date, Thermaltake has always been considered as the pioneering company that revolutionized the PC chassis industry with Xaser series enclosures. The typical and traditional beige and plastic front panel design was outdone by Xaser series chassis's atypical gaming red and aluminum front panel. It was also the first enclosure available to the public with Hardcano unit which provided users full control over computer's thermal management system. As a leader in Thermal Management, Thermaltake is the trusted supplier to many computer manufacturers providing Intel Validated and AMD Approved CPU coolers for today's high frequency and mainstream CPUs. At the pace of current technological advancement in multimedia application and multi-core processor, Thermal Management will become an evermore challenging task requiring innovative product design and reliable manufacturing process; a task that has made what Thermaltake is now and will be in the future. In the year 2002, Thermaltake announced Purepower line of power supply unit for the ever-growing power-hungry PCs. Purepower series PSU quickly gained recognition with its extensive warranty and high-reliability guaranty. Today, Thermaltake has grown into a world-class company with state-of-the-art testing and R&D facility based in Taiwan along with 60+ engineers and ID team covering each application segment such as Liquid Cooling, Air Cooling, PC Enclosure and Power Supply for main-stream users, high-end solutions, system integrators and industrial applications; thus achieve Thermaltake 's company motto, " COOLall YOUR LIFE "! Detailed FeaturesAt first glance, the BlacX may underwhelm you. The name is very fitting, it is a small black box. Thermaltake, however, recognized a need and an opportunity for a device to make use out of the increasingly cheap supply of SATA hard drives. At the heart of the BlacX is a very simply USB to SATA converter cable. A device that most system builders have used for quite awhile now and would probably have a difficult time getting along without. While these cables work fine, they are really not designed for the typical user. They are ugly and for most part intended for the workbench. The BlacX looks right at home on the desktop. At around 5" wide by 3 ½" deep it takes up very little desktop space and given it's intentional black box design, it for the most part will go unnoticed.
What the BlacX lacks in visual flare, it makes up for in usefulness. A hot swap capable USB 2.0 docking station for both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA Hard Drives up to 1TB. Just pop the bare drive in the top of the unit and automatically makes a power connection and is recognized by your Windows or Mac Computer and most likely Linux also although Thermaltake does not list Linux on the website as a supported Operating System.
Discussing the detailed features of the BlacX makes for a very short article. There is really not much to it. It is basically a very small black box that has a power button, eject button, AC adapter port, USB 2.0 port and a slot to insert either a 2.5" or 3.5" SATA hard drive. Don't let the BlacX's appearance mislead you into thinking that this is a cheap and useless product, nothing could be further from the truth. While the shell may be constructed out of ABS Plastic, it has some heft to it. The unit has four small rubber pads on the bottom that do a very effective job of keeping the unit stationary. Testing MethodologyI decided to test the BlacX by using two different methods this time. The first method is the standard transfer rate benchmark that determines the speed the connected drive transfers data to and from the computer. I used HD Tune Pro to monitor this. While a standard benchmark is useful for pointing out any deficiencies in a product like this, it has a difficult time illustrating the strengths of the product. Since the BlacX uses a USB 2.0 connection the maximum data transfer rate is going to be severely restricted. While the USB 2.0 connection may have a theoretical limit of 480Mbps or 60MB per second you will NEVER see this kind of speed in the real world. Mid 30's seem to be the real world expectations for USB 2.0. So for my second testing method I used a slightly less formal method. I reflected on my personal experience using this device over the last couple of months. (I've been a little lax getting this review out) I looked at how the unit has held up to frequent use, any problems or inconsistencies with performance over that time. I looked at how useful the product was to me under real world application and would I spend the money on a product like this. While the second method may be relative to my opinions which could very well be different than some of yours, it may be a more accurate reflection of the true performance and application of the Thermaltake BlacX. Test System
ResultsRunning the benchmarks on the BlacX yielded no surprises. The BlacX is severely limited by the USB 2.0 connection. It does however make full real world use of the USB 2.0 capacity. While this may be slower than the hard drive's maximum transfer rate it is still very useable for accessing and transferring data. Although this model doesn't support it, Thermaltake does offer a BlacX model that has USB 2.0 and eSATA output which would overcome any speed deficiencies that might be present with this model.
With an almost straight line transfer rate of 33MB per second the BlacX is very useable. This works out to around 118GB of data per hour from the BlacX. If your needing faster than that, get the eSATA version. BlacX Final ThoughtsAs far as the results for my second testing method, I have been very impressed. The little black box has stood up to repeated use with ZERO problems. I have found that I can store some of my hard drives on the shelf that I used to keep in my server. This should increase the life of my hard drives, reduce the chance of data loss, and reduce my monthly power bill. With the cost of hard drives falling dramatically, picking up a few 250GB or even 500GB hard drives to store on the shelf for my backups or just to store files that I rarely need to access is a valid option now. With the shelf life of DVD an unknown factor, I would much rather rely on a hard drive sitting on the shelf holding my family pictures and home movies rather than a DVD that may last ten years or may last two.
N0028USU ConclusionPresentation is very acceptable. The box is very informative and details pretty much every thing you need to know about the BlacX. I was actually very pleased with the appearance of the BlacX. The little black box for the most part goes unnoticed on my desk which is fine by me. Construction turned out to be a pretty big plus for the BlacX. Although it is made out of plastic, it feels very sold and has some weight to it. I never noticed a problem with it sliding around on my desk. Overall, the BlacX turned out to be extremely functional for my uses. I have a number of bare hard drives and this little box allowed me to make full use of them. Speed was acceptable although it might be nice to have the option of eSATA. Value is a very subjective thing. This little box does exactly what is says it will do. It does not feel cheap, gave zero problems, and is extremely simple to use. Is it worth twice the price of the bare USB to SATA cable converter? I think that depends on where you plan on using it. If this is going to only be used on a workbench, the cable converter probably will do you just fine, but if you want to use this on your desk as a removable media style storage option, you will love this little unit. At the time of this writing the N0028USU was available at NewEgg for $39.99, but we found it elsewhere for a few dollars less. After spending some time with the Thermaltake BlacX, I'm a fan. With the cost of hard drives getting almost as cheap as DVD to store data on, why not use them as offline storage? They have a much longer shelf life, are much faster, and you read and write to them as much as you want to. Pros:
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