Reviewed by: slewis3 on 09-Nov-08 Rating:

Strengths:A quality product. Even though it is made of plastic, it feels very solid. Very quiet. All needed parts and cables came with it.

Weaknesses:It is not cheap. I got mine on sale for $49.99.

Summary:I bought two of these. I put Western Digital 500 GB drives in them. I hooked one to my cable box using the SATA interface and I use the other one for backups on my desktop computer using the USB interface. Both drives worked perfectly from the moment I turned them on. In this case you get what you pay for! This is a great enclosure.

Reviewed by: vws on 30-Jun-08 Rating:

Strengths:Good ventilation, sturdy build, complete accessories

Weaknesses:If you are the unlucky 20% you\'d get a very loud fan

Summary:For anyone who wants to buy this for quiet performance, I\'d suggest to buy it from a local store for easy return/exchange. I bought one from amazon 3 months ago and that one has a loose DC plug and the fan makes some whirling noise which can be easily heard within 10 feet in the night. A couple of months later, I bought two for my friends and I was quite surprised to witness a great variation between them. One enclosure has a dead silent fan plugged to a circuit board that\'s probably > 1 year old. It\'s DC plug is so loose that it comes off easy by itself! The other enclosure, however, has a fan that makes terribly loud noise like a diesel generator, yet the DC plug is tight and the circuit board is the latest version 2.x (black board with components facing up, very sleeky). BTW one of the boxes makes squeaky sound when I open/close the cover (can\'t remember which). I don\'t know what happened to Antec\'s QC for this model, but I bet if I bought 10 I\'d witness 10 different build quality.

For further elaboration, of all the MX-1 enclosures that I examined, none of them has any assembly issue such as fan blades touching the case/wires or misaligned ports missing the contacts, whatsoever. However, it\'s the individual parts that are not made to the same specs. In the loose DC plug case above, I noticed they actually soldered a different DC socket onboard - all the holes are way wider than the others (so it\'s actually a miracle that the plug pins would lodge in).

I\'ve owned plenty of Antec products and the level of manufacturing variation in this specific line of products is never seen. Although there are a few review sites that give great remarks about this product, people should not assume every box out there has the same excellent quality like what they received. Based on my stats I estimate there are about 1 in 5 enclosures that are poorly made.

Reviewed by: hadjih on 18-Mar-08 Rating:

Strengths:runs cool

Weaknesses:none

Summary:I was looking for a cool quiet cas to slip my older 120gb hard drive in. The MX-1 fit the bill to a tee. I am currently using the USb connection, but the esata will make it future proof should I want to add more storage.

Reviewed by: sierra_nevadas on 05-Jan-08 Rating:

Strengths:Sleek looks; nice bundle & package; cooling fan

Weaknesses:Fan is loud; eSATA braket

Summary:I wanted to add an \"always on\" hard-drive to a HTPC which was in an enclosed cabinet, so cooling was extremely important to me. Very few enclosures offer any realistic cooling, or have a tiny fan which is doing nothing. The MX-1 seemed like a great design with cooling in mind, so I gave it a shot. I have not been disappointed! While the fan is a tad loud, I don\'t notice it once the cabinet door is closed. The bundle was very nice as well. Not only do you get the eSATA & USB cables, you also get an eSATA bracket, which allows you to convert an internal SATA port into an eSATA one and also provides a convenient connection on the back of your computer. Installation was a snap, and I was up and running in a few minutes. The drive can lay flat as shown in the picture, or there is a stand to allow it to sit on it\'s side. The only thing I wish this had was the ability to use either SATA or PATA hard-drives. I sometimes have an older PATA drive sitting around, and would like to put it to use.

Reviewed by: gazrcom on 04-Jan-08 Rating:

Strengths:Design. Build Quality. Cooling Fan.

Weaknesses:Price, although you get what you pay for.

Summary:Whenever I need good quality components that I know Antec make, they are always first on my list to check out. This cooling device was no exception. Yes, it is pricier than similar enclosures, but this baby is worth every penny.

The enclosure comes in a nice quality box which highlights the inputs this device accepts: e/Sata and USB 2.0. The contents of the box are: Power adapter, eSata PCI slot cover, eSata cable, USB 2.0 cable, Stand and MX1 with installed fan. The slot covers and cables are a nice included touch and saves you a couple of bucks right there. I personally like my hard drives laying flat, so don\'t use the stand.

Performance wise, this enclosure works just fine. I don\'t measure speed or collect temperatures, but using eSata, this thing is fast, and to the touch, it is cool. What more do you want it to do? :) Yes, maybe you are paying a little extra for the name, but sometimes it is worth it. This is one of those times, and it matches my P182B nicely too ;)

Reviewed by: anewculture on 17-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:looks, cooling fan

Weaknesses:fan noise when the computer is off

Summary:Great construction, quality and looks. It actually looks much better than the image so don\'t worry you\'ll not get embarrassed to take this baby out from your bag.

The fan has an annoying buzz (like a tiny fly flying near my ear) which is ONLY audible in a silent room when the computer is off. But there\'s a on/off switch for the solution. At the end, the most important thing for me is the safety and lifespan of my harddrive which MX-1 will hopefully provide.

I was expecting a larger drop in the transfer speed but short tests showed that the external e-sata works only 5% slower than my internal sata drive.

The size of enclosure is not that bad for a 3.5\". But who wouldn\'t like a smaller enclosure which requires no AC adapter and extra cables to carry.

If ANTEC produces a 2.5\" \'mobile\' enclosure (with a 3.5\" bay for inserting it onto a desktop case) with \'active cooling\' and with a short (hidden) cable I\'ll be the first to buy.

Reviewed by: sunnyoc on 15-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:Very sturdy, Nice finish, Doesn\'t look or feel cheap, Very quiet fan

Weaknesses:Expensive and Little thick

Summary:I bought this enclosure so that I can use my SATA hard drive to eSATA connection. Fitting the hard drive inside the case was very easy. The enclosure kept the hard drive very cool and very quiet. I was impressed with the quality of the product. Antec has made a really nice enclosure and I would have no problem to run my hard drive 24/7 since it is cooled properly. The only complaint here is the cost of the enclosure which was more than a regular cheap plastic enclosure cost on the internet. But I am more confident to run the hard drive 24/7 in this enclosure compared to other cheap enclosures.

Reviewed by: imteddy on 30-Oct-07 Rating:

Strengths:Quiet, sturdy, well built, keeps hard drive cool

Weaknesses:Slightly Expensive, supports only USB, SATA only

Summary:I got this enclosure to replace my other cheaper enclosure. The one I had before was a screwless design and was easy to open. This Antec MX1 is not as easy to open and install the drive but its not very difficult either. As I mentioned, it is slightly expensive as well. Even after a discount, about $45 is a lot of money to pay for a HDD enclosure. However, I think you get what you pay for. This enclosure is well built, does not look clumsy or cheap. It keeps the drive running much cooler than my previous enclosure. It also comes with a eSATA bracket which is an added plus. I wish it had support for firewire as well and if it could support both SATA and IDE, it would be a really good unit. As SATA is becoming popular, I do not think that to be a drawback though.

Overall, its a good enclosure for a slightly more price and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to run their drives cooler.

Reviewed by: wsn97 on 21-Oct-07 Rating:

Strengths:works well, quiet

Weaknesses:none yet

Summary:I bought this sata external enclosure for my Seagate 7200.10 320G hard drive and it works perfectly. The USB function is OK, but what I like most is its esata connection. With the included esata bracket, I can connect the external hard drive through the sata port and the transferring speed is much faster. The fan of the enclosure is quiet and the built quality is good. Overall I would recommend this product.

Reviewed by: IbarraYJ on 12-Oct-07 Rating:

Strengths:Has a built in blower to lower the temp inside enclosure. eSATA is super fast and works great with WD Raptor drives.

Weaknesses:The enclosure is a little big. The enclosure would be better if they could some how eliminate the power cable. And the other flaw is that you can\'t see the activity LED very well.

Summary:This is a GREAT enclosure made by Antec. Antec is awesome for cooling devices such as cases and this little baby. I have two of these enclosures now and I\'m very happy with them. The eSATA is a great feature and much faster then USB 2.0. I just put a WD Raptor in one of the enclosures and this drive is smokin, super fast. I would recommend this external enclosure for anyone looking to make a hard drive external. Would be nice too if maybe they could find a way to allow enclosure to be used for DVD drives since it\'s not a small enclosure.

Reviewed by: kitchau on 03-Oct-07 Rating:

Strengths:Active Cooling

Weaknesses:Price. No firewire.

Summary:Pricy but good quality construction. Active Cooling fan keeps your hard drive cool for longetivity. Comes with ESATA cable and USB cable. No firewire but it is not necessary with ESata connection. Only works with SATA drives obviously. No IDE drives.

Reviewed by: moolman on 23-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:Fan Cooled, Hard Switch, Fancy Design, All cables included.

Weaknesses:Hard to Open

Summary:I bought the Antec Enclosure because I wanted to attach an extra external HD to my Tivo S3. It\'s a very simple hack and there\'s no need to open up the Tivo, such as when you change out the internal HD. The advantages of this enclosure is that it has a cooling fan. DVR hard drives are always on so a fan is needed for reliability. Another advantage is the hard switch. If the power goes out, the hard drives comes back on automatically when the power comes back. Some enclosures need you to push the button again to start it up. This is good for a Tivo because if you are not home, you\'d miss some shows. Of course all this applies to computer users too. There\'s other enclosures out there but the styling of the Antec is nice and they supply all the cables. They include a USB and eSATA cable, which is a nice touch because those cables do cost extra to buy.

Reviewed by: deshwasi on 19-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:Build, Cooling, Performance

Weaknesses:Bit Bulky

Summary:This is a superb eSATA & USB enclosure from Antec that has excellent cooling features and works superfast with the eSATA connection. The build is excellent, although it is a bit bulky. it is expensive but to keep your data cool & safe, its a small price to pay. highly recommended.

Reviewed by: dblevitan on 13-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:Very solidly built, good cooling, good transfer speed

Weaknesses:Annoying installation, Loud, expensive

Summary:The enclosure is very well built and has great cooling, but that cooling comes with a price - noise. The fan is quiet, but not quiet enough for me. If you have a loud computer, then this is fine, but if you like silence and want to use this all day long, it gets annoying.

The installation was also annoying - it involves hard to remove screws , disconnecting wires, and takes way too long compared to other enclosures. Finally, the price is high.

Reviewed by: jack0h on 13-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:Quiet, active cooling, includes lots of cables

Weaknesses:Price

Summary:The Antec MX-1 is an excellent external enclosure for SATA drives. It has a very quiet active cooling fan, keeping the hard drive cool with no audible noise. It comes with a stand and all the cables necessary, eSATA and USB. It even includes a PCI bracket to turn an internal SATA port into an eSATA port. Overall, the Antec MX-1 is a very good SATA external enclosure.