Conclusions:

Although I am unable to take full advantage of the Thermaltake BlacX Duet's dual drive capabilities with the eSATA interface, I still find the hot swap convenience of the slower USB 2.0 and eSATA interface to be extremely compelling. Cloning hard drives with the USB 2.0 interface is slower than I would like, but the ease with which I'm able to insert and remove multiple drives more than makes up for this. I find this device to be so useful that when I upgrade my system, SATA port multiplication will be one of the must have features of my next motherboard.

If you maintain multiple systems for your family, or regularly back up large quantities of media, The simplicity of the Thermaltakes BlacX Duet and its ease of use will make you wonder how you managed without it.



The Thermaltake BlacX Duet is currently available from multiple online retailers with prices ranging from $40 to $65. Some of the better deals are from names we all recognize, such as Newegg.com where it is about $45 and Buy.com where it sells for just under $40.

I can whole heartedly recommend Thermaltake's BlacX Duet to anyone who finds themselves constantly swapping hard drives in and out of systems or running out of storage space for their data. It therefore earns the Bigbruin.com "Recommended" award.



Pros:

» Three year warranty
» Solid construction
» Ease of use
» Good USB 2.0 performance
» Good eSATA performance

Cons:

» Requires motherboard capable of SATA port multiplication
» Dodgy power switch.

Please drop by the Bigbruin.com Forum and feel free to post any comments or questions.