Kingwin Elite SATA 3.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure

A sturdy, attractive package with easy one-button data backup – Joe

SUMMARY: A sturdy, attractive package with easy one-button data backup.

The good guys at Kingwin were nice enough to send a sample of their Elite SATA 3.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure to try out. In addition to being an external enclosure, it also has a “one-touch” backup capability.

Key Features:

• E-SATA + USB 2.0 Combo with One-Touch backup
• Plug & Play, hot-swapping capability,
• External power supply
• Aluminum construction
• Size: 205 x 130 x 35mm; Weight: 2.5 lbs (1134 g)
• Includes USB and E-SATA cables, driver CD and instruction manual

The back shows the usual ports plus one button for backing up files:

Remove two screws from the back and the tray easily slides out:

When you open the unit, there may be a dangling wire with a two pin connector attached to the external case – this is for the HD light and connects to the two pins indicated by the red arrow:

Parts that ship with the Elite Enclosure include a software disk for drivers and software to enable the one-touch backup function:

Overall this appears to be well made and sturdy – the aluminum case is about 1/16″ thick, so it’s not flimsy and can take some hard knocks. The drive tray is also aluminum, so the only plastic parts are the end caps and black trim pieces.

I tested the USB port using a Seagate 160GB, 7200 rpm drive – results are typical of external hard drive enclosures:

Included with Kingwin’s Elite is software to enable the “One-Touch” file backup function. This is a “lite” version of Fnet’s PCClone Ex – this software enables file backups, not total system backups.

After installation, a PCClone icon is installed on the desktop and system tray – click on it, or hit the “one-touch” button on the enclosure, and this screen comes up:

Click on the “Quick Launch” icon and this comes up:

Hit the “Start” button and it proceeds to backup files:

Obviously how long it takes depends on how much you have – my wife’s laptop took about 20 minutes for 7.5 GB worth of files. It also generates a text file that lists some items not backed up, but not all. Clicking on the second menu icon brings up this:

The third menu icon brings up a somewhat confusing screen:

You figure out that the left side is your PC and the right side is the external drive. Finally there is a “Help” function:

Adequate enough to figure out what’s going on – the last two screens are “drag and drop”, so you can select whichever file you either want to backup or restore. Overall a handy software package.

Kingwin’s Elite SATA 3.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure is sturdy, attractive package with easy one-button data backup, which is a nice addition to the usual external drive package.

Thanks again to Kingwin for sending this our way.

Email Joe