Rosewill RX81-MP-SC External 3.5" SATA Enclosure

Packaging and Accessories:

The Rosewill RX81-MP-SC enclosure comes in a nice retail-style box that prominently shows what it looks like and all the necessary specifications. One thing the box does not mention, and I was a little worried about before receiving the item, was which data cables are included. The short answer to that question is, all of them! Rosewill graciously gives you all the cables that the device supports, a standard USB cable, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA cable. About the only reason you would need to buy your own extra cable is if you only have a mini-FireWire port (like on a notebook), but that is a rare exception.

Along with all the data cables, Rosewill includes an external universal AC adapter, and an instruction manual. While you wouldn't think something like an external enclosure would be complicated, I do recommend reading over the short manual, it explains how to disassemble (and reassemble) the enclosure, and also has a nice FAQ.

Exterior of the RX81-MP-SC Enclosure:

Rosewill makes a few varieties of this enclosure. First, it is available in silver (as reviewed) or black. Second, it is available with only USB & eSATA ports (probably what most people only need), or with USB, FireWire 400 & 800, and eSATA (as reviewed). FireWire will probably be more popular for the Mac crowd, but there are many reasons a PC user might want / need it to. If you are wondering why there are two FireWire 800 ports in the picture below, it is because you can daisy chain FireWire devices.

The enclosure itself is very sleek and elegant. Unlike other brands, there's no big labels on the side or even any cheap plastic... It's all a very simple, modern looking, solid aluminum enclosure. The front grill and design of the enclosure almost look like it was modeled after the Mac Pro chassis. There is no fan either, the aluminum body passively keeps the hard drive temps under control. One thing you can't see is a blue LED behind the front grill. If the LED is too bright for you, it can be disconnected from the main board quite easily.

Something you might be wondering about (and it is answered in the manual because I looked), can you use multiple data ports at the same time? The answer is "no"... Only one port should be plugged in / used at a time (exception being if you are daisy chaining Firewire 800, but that is still for a single computer). If you need multiple computers to access the drive at the same time then you would have to do it via network sharing (or get a NAS enclosure).