Introduction:

Rosewill RX81-MP-US Storage Enclosure

Programs, games, and media files are everywhere on our hard drives these days. And if you're not a gamer, chances are you've got quite a few media files quickly filling your drives even more. And then there are the news groupies file dredging everything to their hearts content. These guys are serious data fiends who typically have more than a TeraByte of data.

This means our computer cases are quickly filling with hard drive after hard drive. As we keep adding these drives, the case slowly transforms in to a seriously heavy brick. Then there are the thermal issues that present themselves especially to folks in warmer climates. It's pretty surprising how quickly 8 or more drives can heat up a case if your system is accessing them a lot.

External options still seem to be the best because of all those factors. Millsy has been checking out some huge back planes from Thecus which are perfect for the hardcore data fiends. Smaller scale users tend to benefit most from single and dual drive external enclosures. These include USB 2.0 and eSATA enclosures like the Rosewill RX81-MP Storage Enclosure. Why eSATA you ask? Read on see the two versions compared.

Specifications:

Closer Look:

USB 2.0 has theoretical data transfer rates of 480Mbs but have realistically only been able to transfer at an average rate of 22 to 30Mbs depending on factors like the enclosure and hard drive. Recent testing of the Vantec Nexstar MX revealed an external eSATA internal interface but was connected via a USB cable. This a more budget ended USB solution.

Front

Back

Contents

The RX81 actually takes the SATA enclosure interface and continues that connectivity to your system. If your motherboard supports hot swap or has an eSATA port, typically found on the back, it should be able to transfer files at SATA speeds rather than USB speeds. Because of this, transfer rates are going to be faster. Just how fast, you'll get to see in a just a few minutes.

Unit Front

Unit Back

The RX81 is a pretty slim solid black enclosure. It doesn't have any active cooling, but is made with light weight aluminum which should help keep the drive temps down if you're constantly accessing it. Air can get inside via the front mesh grill. If it were a dual drive enclosure, active cooling would almost have be implemented. The back of the unit is solid and contains the USB 2.0, eSATA, power, and power switch.

Back Up Close

Bottom

A small, light weight leg frame comes pre-mounted to the bottom of the RX81. Thankfully, it has a wide enough foot print to keep it steady on your desktop. It all looks like a small black book sitting on a base.

Installation and Testing:

The internal drive bay is held in to place with four black screws at the bottom. The bay and rear ports are all connected together and slides out in one piece. Four screws hold a very thin light weight aluminum cover on the drive bay which has to be removed to install the drive.

Removing Screws & Bay

Bay Removed

You can see the SATA power and transfer cables. We've seen enclosures that have the different connection interface where you simply slide the drive in to slots for the drive to function. If this were a dual drive enclosure, I could see the necessity for it. But, being it's a single drive, it's not necessary.

Open Bay

Connecting Cables

Drive Ready

Drive Mounted

The SATA drive of your choice simply needs connected and secured within the enclosure via four screws which Rosewill includes to make things easy. A couple extra screws are also included in case you lose some. After that, the thin aluminum shield can be fastened to close off the drive bay. However, it isn't necessary. Leaving it off doesn't pose any real risk and it will allows air to move more freely if you're concerned about heat.

Drive Ready

Connected

Something you might find interesting about external and internal SATA transfer rates. SATA transfer rates typically score around the 60MB/s range depending on the system and media. The RX81 scored about 60MB/s average rates with the stock included cable and 61MB/s with a much more expensive cable. So, sometimes it helps, but in this case, it's very minimally and not worth the aftermarket cable.

RX81 External SATA	Internal SATA
RX81 USB	Nexstar MX USB

The USB 2.0 transfer rates remain about 33MB/s. This is pretty much identical with the previous Nexstar MX which had been housing the 320GB SATA II back up drive. No matter how many times each enclosure was tested, it always achieved about 33.3MB/s which reminds of the IDE ATA 33 days.

RX81 USB Rates

RX81 eSATA Rates

The RX81 does best in eSATA mode, but comes up just a little short of the Nexstar MX USB enclosure. There's not a big difference, but it is visible in the benchmarks. Since, the RX81 does support 1TB eSATA, it trumps the aging and never proven USB 2.0 hardware.

Conclusion:

The RX81-MP Storage Enclosure is a good discrete performer for about $45 USD. Performance is still really close whether it's in SATA mode or USB Mode. Variables like the cabling can actually effect the transfer rates, but not always greatly. The eSATA cable that Rosewill sends with the unit appears to pretty decent and didn't seem to lose any performance.

The benefit of the RX81 external drive is that it's hot swappable (assuming your motherboard supports this feature) and adds a bit more portability. This unit should work really well for users needing a simpler 1TB enclosure. If you're looking for a faster interface, the RX81-MP-SC which includes Firewire has the ability.

Since there are so many variations of enclosures out there, it's way to hard to point one out as the ultimate external enclosure. Hopefully, they'll bring a dual 1TB enclosure to add to the arsenal. That'll be a heavy hitter. But until then, I can at least recommend the Rosewill RX81-MP as good choice. This unit can only be purchased @ Newegg.com.

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