Model:  MS02

Manufacturer:  Silverstone

Provider:  Silverstone

Reviewed By:  Miguel

Review Date:  03/26/06

  When it comes down to quality, Silverstone is honestly in a class of its own.  That's their primary focus and it truly showed when visiting their impressive booth at CES 2006.  Both Tom and I were impressed with the quality of their new product line, right down to the beautiful new TJ07.  However, they have also introduced additional products that are simply impressive to just look at.  One of the products featured at CES was their MS02 hard drive enclosure.  Sporting an exceptionally crafted brushed aluminum body, and a one touch backup feature, this is one HD enclosure you'll want to display rather than hide behind your gear.  Let's have a brief look...

Packaging & Contents

The MS02 ships in a standard blister package that includes a thorough manual and a CD that features its unique one touch backup software.  Also included is a USB Y cable, which serves a purpose that will be discussed later in this review.

Design

Like all their high quality products, the MS02 is exceptionally crafted.  It's sleek brushed aluminum finish looks spectacular and it shows that they always go beyond the norm with every product release.

**click to enlarge**

On one end of the enclosure is where you'll find the backup button, mini USB connector and DC power jack.  This is one area that did puzzle me because a power adapter was not included with the retail kit I received.  So I contacted Silverstone and this is what they had to say:

"The inclusion of the 5V power connector is also for people with insufficient USB port power. However, we decided not to include an AC adapter in our retail version of MS02 as the underpowered problem can be solved by the USB Y cable solution. There are OEM/ODM customers that can request to include the adapter with MS02 so we are leaving the possible usage of MS02 open for future businesses."

**click to enlarge**
 

The included "Y" cable is not designed to allow you to connect the unit to two computers, but rather to ensure that the unit does get sufficient power.  Depending on your setup, you're USB port may not provide enough power to run the drive.  If this is the case, you can connect the second USB connector to another port.  If this is not an issue, then just make sure you connect the larger connector with the thicker cable to your PC.  During testing, I did not have to resort to connecting both.

Specifications

Next: Install, Software & Conclusions