Conclusion

So what has come out of our attempt to compare two hard disk drive enclosures with the USB 2.0 interface between each other? It would be wrong to claim one of them is much better than another. For example, their results were very close in the classic WinBench 99 benchmark. In fact, the difference lay in the measurement error range when we used FAT32. In NTFS, however, the drive looked better in the ST Lab S-101 container.

But when I tested the enclosures in FAT32 using FC-Test, the VP-9258V container from ViPowER was clearly better, especially at writing and copying files. In NTFS the higher efficiency of the ViPowER showed up when the drive was processing small-size files.

I think it necessary to tell you about one problem I encountered during the tests. The ST Lab passed through them without a hitch, but the container from ViPowER with the drive installed hung up once. That hang-up seemed to be caused by overheat of the hard drive after long operation. So, the built-in fan may not be enough in some cases because there are no holes for the hot air to come out of the container, and the airflows inside the enclosure are weak. You should keep this in mind if you’re intending to use your hard drive in this container very actively.

I think that the product from ViPowER is preferable of the two reviewed enclosures just because of its lower price. But don’t forget my remark about the thermal properties of the VP-9258V.