Zalman HE350 U3E Aluminum, Polycarbonate 3.5" White USB3.0 & eSATA HDD External Enclosure

Pros: Outstanding quality. Heavy metal enclosure. The hard disk attached to the circuit board perfectly. All the parts fit very well. The USB 3.0 interface works well. This is the best external enclosure I've owned. I've always been satified with the quality of the Zalman products I've bought.

Cons: The circuit board is very snug. Have to be patient when installing it into the enclosure. Need to rock it back-and-forth gently. Considering you'll probably only do this once, this is not much of an issue.
I do have three complaints.
First, the enclosure uses passive thermal conduction to remove heat from the hard drive. The enclosure gets warm, but its well within the limits of the hard drive specs.
Second, the hard disk vibrations are conducted through the enclosure. The hard disk heads are easily heard when the hard disk is seeking.
Third, the internal interface should be SATA III (6 gb) instead of SATA II (3 gb). SATA II limits the throughput to 3 gb even if USB 3.0 (max 5 gb) is used.
I deducted 1 egg because people may be disappointed if they are looking for a cool and quiet enclosure, or expect full USB 3.0 throughput.

Other Thoughts: I did not try the eSATA interface. So, I don't know how well it works.

Pros: Quiet, White case blends well, USB 3 & ESATA

Cons: Difficult to slide board with HD back into case. Very little 'wiggle room' as the HD will bind on the case if not 100% perfect. Ended up having to leave the 4 screws just a tad loose and let the HD 'self adjust' as it was inserted back in the case.

Other Thoughts: Bought it to transfer files from a computer that failed (XPS 400) with newer WD 1TB drives. Transferred a few hundred GB's of RAW images with both USB 3 & ESATA to compare. ESATA started out about about 90MB then settled at 55MB after a couple minutes until the transfer was complete (30 min). Did the same for USB, which settled around 25MB for speed, a surprise there as I had read that the USB 3 would be the way to go, but I guess not with my system (XPS 8300 w/ RAID). In the end, it did what I needed it to so no real complaints.

Pros: White, shiny, compact, low weight, feels solid.

Cons: Slight scratches along the front and the back of the case, you have to tilt in the light to see them so it's not a big deal. It wasn't caused by New Egg's packaging, whatever caused it must have happened before they packed it.

Other Thoughts: I hope I can edit reviews after posting them, because I just got this and I don't have a hard drive to put in it yet! I can't wait though to post my first NewEgg review. The eSATA wire works just fine, plugs into my computer as I was hoping. The unit came wrapped in packaging foam peanuts, very secure, can't complain there. I'll add more input when I finally try it out.

Pros: Fit & finish are excellent. I had zero trouble installing the drive. Quality of all the connectors & hardware is great.

Zalman includes not only both USB 3.0 and eSATA cables - in matching white, no less - but also a small screwdriver.

Blue LEDs are behind a semi-opaque bezel, so they do not have the "light up half the house at night" problem of blue LEDs on many other products.

Performance is excellent. I got top transfer rates on both USB 3.0 and eSATA interfaces. This enclosure does not impede drive access in any way.

Cons: The one and only negative: the included eSATA cable is very short (2'). You'll have to sit the ZM-350-U3E really close to reach typical eSATA ports.

However, I already owned some longer eSATA cables, and this is such a minor point (you can always used the fantastic USB 3.0 interface) that it's not even worth deducting an egg.

Other Thoughts: It isn't in the specs, but this enclosure can handle a 3 TB Advanced Format drive (such as the WD30EZRX I used). Some enclosures will not.

No active cooling (e.g. fan). But this is the third drive enclosure I've owned with no fan, and I don't believe a fan is really necessary. The drive stays well within its allowable temp. range with just passive airflow, provided by slots in the front and rear of the enclosure.

USB and eSATA are finally on similar footing, with the 3.0 revision. About the only thing USB 3.0 has over eSATA now is that USB 3.0 is more easily hot-pluggable. Many Intel and Marvell chipsets providing eSATA ports do in fact support hotplugging (it's in the SATA spec after all). You only have to dig a little to find software to make eSATA hotplug easy (HotSWAP! is one).

Somewhat resembles a Nintendo Wii.

Uses a standard 12v power supply, easy to replace should you lose the original. Prolific Technologies USB 3.0/eSATA interface chipset (probably PL2773).

Pros: Works great. I have it connected to my USB3 connector, so I get the benefit finally of USB3. But I like the fact that I can connect it via eSata, too. Also, and this sounds silly, but I love the very basic on and off power switch. I simply flip it on, it turns on, is detected by Win7, I do what I need, I request to end the USB connection, and then flip it off. No weird soft on and off switch like in some external drives.

Also, it really looks nicer than in the picture. The blue lights are cool and functional, but it does not look white plastic tacky. Rather, it looks pretty elegant.

Cons: It was a royal pain inserting the drive into the enclosure. I almost dinged it an egg. Be very careful, and do not force the drive. It will eventually line up and then will slide in pretty smoothly. I mean, at one point, it was stuck half-inserted and I had a heck of a time pulling it out and then re-inserting. This is not an enclosure that I will swap a lot of drives back and forth.

Other Thoughts: I am not sure how well the cooling works. I've got a 7200rpm 1 TB drive in there, and it heats up to 40C, well within its thermal envelope, but not as cool as I thought it would be. But it is just an external drive that I will not be using for hours on end.