| Rating | Where to buy |
 | Amazon.com *Same or similar item |
HDD Enclosure Z10 can turn your 2.5-inch hard drive into a portable hard disk. It supports USB 2.0 and a data transfer rate up to 480/400 Mbps. Z10 is one of the cheapest 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure with heat dissipation feature.
What’s in the box?
The box contains the external hard drive case Z10, a USB cable, user guide, a pack of mini screws, a screwdriver, and a carrying pouch.
Design and features
HDD Enclosure Z10 is slim and sturdy. It has steel covers in matte black. The circuit board inside is where you attach your 2.5-inch hard disk. There are 4 big screws to attach the hard disk to the circuit plate. Now you can put the steel covers on both sides and use the eight screws to attach them. The white plastic in-between the top and bottom covers is built well but not as attractive. However, unlike many other cheap external hard drive cases, the Z10 has a regular USB port and not the mini one. Next to the USB port is a red status light that lits or blinks when a connection is made or when data is being transferred.
You need to use a total of 12 screws (8 of which are tiny) to place the HDD into the enclosure firmly. A low-quality screwdriver comes with the box to do it. Yet, using the provided screwdriver to tighten the mini screws may not be so easy for some of us because it doesn’t have any magnetic effect on the screws. Besides, if you need to change or remove your HDD often then this may turn into a tedious job after a few times.
Performance
HDD Enclosure Z10 is plug and play. It is supported on all Windows operating systems, Max and Linux OSs. Once you plug in, the Windows operating system detects the device driver and installs it. It takes only 4 to 5 seconds and then you are ready to go.
The Z10 hard drive enclosure remained stable and quiet all through the testing in our lab. The data transfer rate was pretty fast due to its 8-megabyte volume buffer. It supports 4200 to 7200 rpm HDDs. Z10 transferred 1 terabyte data from our laptop hard drive to desktop hard drive (both hard drives were 7200 rpm) in 58 minutes. Throughout the whole operation, it remained silent; the steel covers seemed like dissipating HDD heat and keeping it cool (at 38-degree centigrade) throughout the whole process.
| Pros | Cons |
| Lower price, slim, attractive, safe, quiet and stable operation, good data transfer speed, suitable design for better heat dissipation. | Too many tiny screws to attach the hard disk and steel covers. |
Conclusion
HDD Enclosure Z10 by Chinese manufacturer is one of the cheapest external hard drive enclosures on the market. Despite the low price, the enclosure works fast and looks decent. It has 8-megabyte buffer volume for faster operation. It keeps your hard disk and data safe with its design suitable for heat dissipation.