X Craft 360

Cooler Masters X Craft comes in a box which identifies the main features, however it is the choice of a large window which is the most useful aspect of the packaging. Chances are that anyone looking for a hard drive enclosure is going to have it in full view and so the styling is quite important. Cooler Masters decision to have the box flip open allows any potential buyer to see the styling of the unit. A thoughtful design.

Within the main packaging is a smaller box with bundled cables and extras which are shown above. As expected there isn't much to the manual and no software or drivers are required, this is a “plug n play” unit.

There is a stand to give the option of storing the unit on the thin edge with the PSU adapter also. The strangest item in the bundle is a small plastic case which can be used to transport a Hard drive, although we can’t see anyone using it for anything other than storing a spare. The only down side of this bundle was the inclusion of a 2pin plug on the UK sourced model (UK sockets are 3pin) we have been assured this was a one off, and it was corrected by a quick trip to a local electronics store to buy a cheap converter. If anyone buys this item in the United Kingdom with a 2 pin plug please let us know.

As with the GeminII cooler we looked at earlier we couldnt help but be impressed by the styling of the X Craft, as hard drive enclosures go it is one of the nicest we have seen. The top and bottom are a shiny Aluminium and the sides have a hard mesh which promotes good airflow within the unit.

Installing a hard drive within the X Craft is easy, flick the front open, slide in the drive (SATA) and close the front panel. It's as simple as that, no cables are required inside the unit. When ejecting the drive we again flick the front open and this action prompts a lever to push the drive out slightly for easy removal, a nice touch.

On the rear of the enclosure is the power socket and on/off switch which is useful as the enclosure doesnt automatically power down the drive when the PC is switched off (as some other units do). There are also two options to choose from when connecting to a PC. The industry standard USB 2.0 is defacto, however for those reading who have more recent motherboards which support eSATA there is also a port (and bundled cable) for this connection. We'll look at the difference in performance between the two connectors shortly. On a practical level our preference was the eSATA connector as the more USB sockets we can keep free the better. The final aspect of the product which is noteworthy is the activity light on the front panel. When powered on the ring lights up blue and turns red with activity. Nothing out of the ordinary however it is well placed and clearly visible.