Testing:

To test the Thermaltake Max 5G drive enclosure, it was connected to a system with built-in support for USB 3.0. It was tested against other USB 3.0 devices, including the MUKii 3.5" U3 enclsoure, Thermaltake's BlacX 5G hard drive dock, and Seagate's GoFlex Desk 3TB USB 3.0 external drive. The same hard drive will be installed in the MUKii U3 and the Thermaltake Max 5G; a 250GB 3.5" Seagate 7200.12 hard drive.



The following tests will be executed on each configuration to gauge its performance:

» Real World Transfers
» CrystalDiskMark 2.2

Real World Results:

To analyze the real world performance, two tests were executed. Small file testing involved transferring one folder containing 5GB of MP3 files, and large file testing involved transferring a single 7.3GB ISO file. The speeds were timed with a stopwatch, which was started when the mouse button was released to copy the files to the hard drive. The less time it takes to perform each test, the better.

Writing the folder of MP3 files to the Max 5G took 103 seconds, which is slightly faster than the MUKii U3 at 108 seconds. However the Thermaltake BlacX 5G hard drive dock was the fastest at 94 seconds.



Copying the files back to another hard drive in the test system produced results that were pretty close between the Max 5G, BlacX 5G and Seagate's GoFlex Desk. Each of these was 7 seconds faster than the MUKii U3 drive.



Writing a 7.3GB file took 95 seconds, which is faster than MUKii's U3 was able to do. The Thermaltake BlacX 5G only took 85 seconds. While 10 seconds doesn't seem like a lot for a single file, it can quickly add up the more files you have to copy.



Copying the large file back showed a different story than the small files. In this test, the Max 5G still beat the MUKii U3, but it was slightly slower than both the BlacX 5G and Seagate's GoFlex drive.