In the world of portability, nothing beats an external hard drive enclosure for storage capacity. USB flash drives and the different flash cards are topping out right around 8GB; where as hard drives are pushing past 500GB. Although an external hard drive can hold a huge amount of data, they aren't quite as small as their flash counterparts. A hard drive installed in a portable enclosure will cost many times less per GB than any flash storage device also.
Mapower offers a whole line of external enclosures with a myriad of different connection options. You can have either a PATA or SATA drive inside, and a collection of options for connectivity including USB 2.0, Firewire, and one that offers both USB 2.0 and Firewire. One other option is having an SATA connected enclosure. This enclosure in theory should offer the fastest connection method of them all. This is the style that ClubIT.com sent along for us to take a look at.
About Mapower:
Founded in 1991, Mapower Corp is a Taiwan based manufacturer of computer peripherals specializing in external drive enclosures. Mapower, distinguished by its unique and extremely effective approach to quality control, exceptional emphasis on service, and innovative product designs, provides start-to-finish "one-stop" external storage enclosures and designs. Mapower's motto of "sincerity, quality, innovation" pervades all aspects of Mapower's business operations, winning the loyalty of major OEM brands such as Hitachi, NEC and Philips. Tracing the evolution of the company's product line - from mainboards, PCBs, switching power supplies, computer cases, to the SPS and external drive enclosures of today - it is evident that Mapower's conception of quality and service transcends any individual product.
Features:
• Aluminum anodized housing allows for excellent heat dissipation and a sleek modern look
• Portable and lightweight design
• Plug & Play compatibility for easy and quick installations
• Enables you to transfer data quickly and safely from your PC or Mac for back-up and/or storage purposes
• Suitable for 3.5" hard drives
The Basics:
The MAP-H31SS came in a normal enough looking box with only vague details about what was inside. The box itself is labeled only for the series of enclosures, and not the specific style of enclosure. There is a sticker on the outside that tells you that it is a SATA enclosure, but the rest of the information is for the other style of enclosures. Inside the box is the extruded aluminum and plastic enclosure, a stand to mount the enclosure vertically, a notebook style power supply, a 120V power cord for the power supply, and a 3-foot SATA data cable.
 
Along with the hardware is a single photocopied sheet of installation instructions, and just like the exterior of the box, it is very vague and meant for the USB, Firewire, and combo models.
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