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Users Online: Visitor [2] : Home Visitor [9] : Forum
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RocketFish 2.5" SATA HD Enclosure Kit - RF-AHD25 -- |
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| Hits: 2 |
Updated:
Wed 12/02/2009 @ 11:03
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What You Get
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The kit includes a molded plastic enclosure with two latch on covers, a silver version that matches the body of the enclosure and a black one, apparently for Oakland Raiders fans. The latch has a lock on/lock off postition but the lock on position doesn't really do anything. The cover is essentially snap on, pry off.



Inside the 6" x 3.5" x 3/4" body is a PC board with a soldered on female edge connector into which slides the HDD. One end of the board has a 5V DC power receptacle, mini USB jack, eSATA interface, plus a single lighted push button labeled BACKUP (not really sure what this does). The board is attached to the enclosure by four philips head screws (mini screw driver and all screws included) and you must remove the board from the enclosure to plug in the drive. Four screws attach the drive to the board itself.





Included are a 3' long mini-USB cable, 3'+ long eSATA cable, and an imitation leather/nylon black carrying pouch. It comes with CDs containing Roxie BackOnTrack 3 LE (didn't install but maybe the button starts this) and PDF user documentation.
The drive is PlugNPlay over both the USB and eSATA interfaces.
Performance ( all benchmark taken using HD Tune 2.55 )
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Interface__________Drive____________________Max Xfer Rate(MB/sec)____Min Xfer Rate(MB/sec)__Avg Xfer Rate(MB/sec)___Access Time(ms)___Burst Rate (MB/sec)
eSATA RocketFish____ Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm________102.4____________________50.3__________________82.1___________________16.4________________84.5
Internal drive 0____ Seagate 500GB 7200rpm________101.2____________________30.9__________________74.7___________________17.8________________70
Internal drive 1____ Seagate 500GB 7200rpm________102.4____________________50.2__________________82.2___________________l7.2________________74.4
USB Rocketfish_______Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm_________29.4____________________19.6__________________28.9___________________16.9________________22.9
Cost
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This product is available over the net in a broad range of prices from $8 to $27.
Conclusions
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This kit is great for making on demand backups, traveling, or for isolating and working on projects with large amounts of data, like video production that you don't want cluttering up you main storage device. I originally purchased this enclosure so that I could make a disk image of my HDX OS drive prior to shipping out for repair. Sadly my other computer had only USB but I was able to save the image and restored it, no problem. For backups, I like to put my HDD of the week in and fire it up to do a quick disk image or file backup after completing a milestone or prior to updating a device driver or some application software. When attached to the eSATA interface this unit accomplishes any task as effectively as the internal drive except that you can pop the HDD out relatively easily and put it in a safe place when you're done with it. Ok, it's not an HDD docking station but it's way easier than popping out your laptop's D: drive for offsite storage. :) I will certainly make sure any system I buy in the future has an eSATA interface on board and the RocketFish RF-AHD25 will be in my tool box.
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My Review of HDX18 (4.21.09 -- |
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| Hits: 0 |
Updated:
Wed 12/02/2009 @ 03:54
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Well I got mine today @ 12:30 Eastern Time!!!
Holy hell is this thing NICE!! Everything is so beautiful.
I have never typed on a nicer keyboard.
The Volume and bass adjusters work flawlessly, as well as the fingerprint reader!! The sound is FULL and great! I don't have any Blue-rays yet, but can't wait to watch Casino Royale on this bad boy.
The webcam is awesome, and I love how there is a light for it! Nice touch. The built-in mics pick out sound perfectly (unlike my previous HP Pavilion DV6000 Series, you had to literally scream into those).
The resolution isn't going to be a problem getting used to.
A couple things I was worried about were, the trackpad and surrounding surface picking up tons of fingerprints. Well it does, but not as bad as I thought it would be (based on others testimony).
Another thing I was worried about was the screen being super reflective. Have to say, I can't tell enough to bother me. In my opinion, this is no worse than my DV6000 and I sat on a couch w/ an open window directly behind me, no problem. It was overcast out today though, so we'll see, but I don't think it is going to bother me.
The screen is SOO NICE! I do find however that when I am on a site such as this where it's mostly white, then I find it a little on the bright side. I just dim the screen a notch or two, and then it's perfect!
I was hoping that I could use my Hard Drive caddy from my DV6000 on this. Then I would just throw that 160gb HD in the HDX, but I am not seeing a way it will work. Looks like I'm going to have shell out for the HDX Caddy. No Biggie, because right now I have that 160gb HD in an external case I got on eBay for $7.23!!
I did get the TV Tuner, but am in the middle of nowhere right now going to college, so I can't pick up any HD channels. Of course today was really rainy out, so I'll try again tomorrow.
A couple things different (and I believe better) than my previous HP Laptop are the ports for one. Inserting a USB cable into them, it is a very nice tight fit. Also, to open it up, you have to use just a tiny elbow grease. It feels VERY sturdy, which is what you want w/ a screen this size.
It does get a little warm around the trackpad, but nothing uncomfortable yet. See me in July and August on that one! haha.
It runs fairly quiet. I do hear the fans a little. I might need a bios update, those kind of things usually fix themselves w/ HP's updates (if it's running more than it's supposed too).
One thing I don't really like, though I must admit I am getting used to just after about 10 hours, is the trackpad! What the hell were they thinking making it SO SMALL?!?! My Pavilion's trackpad is bigger than this one! Of course like everyone else, the first thing I did was go into the mouse setting and set it to the fastest pointer speed. Literally, that was the first thing I did!! There is absolutely no reason it should take 5 swipes to get from one side of the screen to the other!
Not that it could be helped, but the powerbrick looks like something form the 1980's!! haha, wow is that thing huge!
I haven't ran any VM's yet. I still haven't installed Windows 7 or Ubuntu 64 bit yet either, but eventually will.
Well that is it in short. Feel free to ask any questions you may have!!
Now I will list my specs. I ordered it on April 7th I believe, it shipped out on the 15th, and I got it today, the 20th.
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HP HDX18t Premium Series Notebook PC
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
- FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) - For 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics
- FREE Upgrade to 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - For DDR2 Memory
- 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
- Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
- Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Fluid)
- Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
- 50% OFF!! HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- No Productivity Software
- HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
$1214.79 after taxes. That included an All-In-One Wireless Printer, Copier, Scanner, and Fax Machine. I also got the Logitech Z-2300's for an additional $106 shipped.
I will be getting money back too, as there were several coupons that came out the DAY AFTER I ordered mine. HP has a 21 day Price Match Guarantee.
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