One of the biggest obstacles that every digital photographer faces these days is backup storage. I personally used to use a series of hot swap trays that required me to install a drive into an enclosure before being able to use them. It also meant purchasing extra trays at $10-20 a pop. While it’s not much, it adds up over the course of a year.
Enter the Thermaltake BlacX ($36 at amazon) which connects to your computer via USB and allows you to just open up any boxed SATA drive and quite literally plop it in. It supports 2.5 inch drives and standard 3.5 in drives and has made my life simple. While it’s not going to set the world on fire with it’s blazing speed it will give you a no-nonsense easy as pie backup solution using bare drives.
What’s not to love about that!
| Enclosure Interface | USB 2.0 |
| Transfer Rate | Up to 480 Mbps (Max) |
| HDD Compatible | SATA I SATA II |
| HDD Capacity | All 2.5” or 3.5” SATA HDD up to 2 TB |
| OS Compatible | Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2003 / 2000 / NT / 98 / 95 Mac 10.3 and later |
| Material | ABS Plastic |
| Power | Input: 100-240V / 50-60Hz / 1A ; Output: 12V / 2A |
| Dimension | 130 (L) x 90 (W) x 65 (H) mm 5.12 (L) x 3.55 (W) x 2.56 (H) in. |
| Accessory | USB 2.0 Cable Power Adapter |
| Fan | N/A |
| Weight | 2 lbs |
| Special Features | -Hot-Swap Capability for Rapid Multi HDDs Access & Exchange -Compact Docking Station Design maximizes Heat Dissipation & Exhaust |
6 Comments at "Mark’s Best Gear Purchase of 2010"
I use the eSata version of this drive and it seems fast. Esata is not hot swappable though…you will lose data if you do!!!
I’ve got a similar one that’s both USB and esata, love it!
This is one of my current back-up method and I love it. Cost-effective and easy.
we use this for our other studio, FotoCielo and it pretty much just rocks!
I do the same thing, except from vantec: http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/295
There’s also a dual-bay version.
We have the Vantec version. It’s awesome.
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