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Installation
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Installed on the VIZO Luxon was the same drive
used to test their Master Panel, a Western Digital Raptor 36GB 10K RPM SATA
drive.
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Most of you who have installed a number of SATA
drives know that the cables themselves don't usually provide a nice snug
fit. The nice thing about the Luxon is that they include a
well-designed internal cable that combines both power and SATA one one
connector. This
cable truly does provide a more secure fit for added peace of mind. It
is highly unlikely that this cable will come loose over time.
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Cables are all the perfect length and tuck away
nicely. The rear of the internal mount even has a thin aluminum panel
to dissipate heat from the HD circuit board.
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VIZO includes a jumper that is required to set
the enclosure to work with either an IDE or SATA drive. Closing either
the JP2 or JP3 pins will enable each.
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Finally, there's one small but nice feature I
would like to point out. The Luxon includes two types of install
screws. Standard philips screws for the internal mount of the hard
drive and some "security" screws to secure the external panel. This
provides some added security and most will find it impossible to gain access
to the hard drive itself unless you use the included tool.
Performance
Considering the VIZO Luxon does provide you with
the option of connecting your drive via SATA or USB, it was only adequate to
test performance using both interfaces. This will certainly give you
can idea of performance differences between the two.
For the benchmarks, I used my two preferred
tools...Sisoftware's SANDRA and HDTach. Comparisons between the two
interfaces were provided.
Comparing the two, you can obviously see a
significant difference when running as a standard standard SATA 150 drive.
In fact, the results are identical as if you were to install the drive
internally and run off your motherboard. Turning the drive into a USB
device does affect transfer speeds and it is certainly nice to see the Luxon
provides you with the option to connect it either way. I haven't found
an enclosure that does feature this and it was certainly a nice addition.
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Another small but nice feature is the status LED
on the enclosure itself. Yes, it is blue but rather than just blink
the same color to indicate activity, there is a red LED installed that will
turn its color to purple when the drive is being accessed. This may be
annoying when installed in a home entertainment system. However, for
computer use, it will prove quite handy.
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