Coolmax Gemini CD-309-U2 3.5" External HDD Enclosure

Assembling the Enclosure:

Assembly of this unit is extremely simple. For this review I used a 120GB Western Digital Caviar hard drive with 8MB cache and 7200RPM. Assembly begins by loosening the 2 screws on the sides of the rear panel and pressing down the tab at the top, then sliding the hard drive tray all the way out of the enclosure.

The tray is quality built and has a couple features that ease assembly more so than other enclosures on the market. Firstly the IDE and 4-pin power connectors are hard wired to the circuit board instead of having lengths of cable extending from the tray and causing clutter. Also, the hard drive activity LED is already built into the tray. I've seen other enclosures where it was not fixed and required you to attach it through an opening in the side of the enclosure when inserting the hard drive.

After removing the tray, you loosen the adjustment screw on the 4-pin power connector so that it can be moved left or right to align it with the connector on your hard drive. Next just place the hard drive on the tray and line up the power connector, then press the hard drive onto the connectors until they are firmly inserted. Lastly, insert the 4 provided screws into the bottom of the tray to secure the hard drive, then insert the whole tray assembly back into the enclosure and tighten the 2 side screws. That's all there is to assembling the enclosure.

With the slim standing profile of the enclosure you can display it openly or tuck it into any small available space.

From here, just attach the USB cable to the enclosure and your computer, plug in the power adapter, and flip on the power switch. Windows will detect the new USB device as a storage device and it should be ready to roll.