Conclusions

Over the years, I have used a number of external drive enclosures and found that many are somewhat "predictable" in a general sense of the word.  Few are designed to stand out from the crowd and few offer anything special in regards to performance.  The VI-ON happens to be one of the very few that manages to break this norm and designed to target a number of different PC users in scope.  That's what makes it an excellent choice for those looking for an external storage solution.

Striking Design

Inside and out, there's plenty to like about this enclosure.  Starting with the outside, its design is simply breathtaking.  Its highly futuristic form is not the only thing worth noting though.  The whole front and top of the enclosure features steel mesh that is not there just to accent its appealing design, but also to play a major role in cooling your drive.  This is apparent right down the included detachable base, which is cleverly designed.  Breaking it apart to get to the insides will also impress.  While not exactly "tool-less", the actual hard drive mounting is.  What I liked the most was the completely cable/tool-free mounting of the hard drive.  There's no short cables to lose or jumpers and/or switches to worry about either.  The SATA connectors are built-in to the circuit board itself, providing not only a high level of convenience, but I found it does aid in maintaining the drive securely in place.

Excellent Performance

The VI-ON is available in two varieties when referring to its connectivity options.  However, if you have a system capable of taking advantage of the eSATA model, I would highly recommend it over all others only if you're after the highest level of performance.  With the right drive and system configuration, you can easily achieve transfer rates in excess of 100MB/s.  These numbers are comparable to most standard 7200RPM high cache drives in a standard SATA configuration. 

SATA vs. eSATA

While eSATA enclosures are capable of offering the highest performance over all other standard external interfaces, it is important to note that this kind of connectivity is not without its share of flaws.  After extensive testing consisting of countless similar products, an eSATA connection is simply not 100% reliable in terms of hardware, signal variances and other connectivity issues.  Mark my words on that and know that it is simply not as reliable as connecting a SATA drive internally.  Some may disagree with this because they may not experience any issues the way they are using the device.  However, the reliability issues are clearly there and you may not notice them until you take full advantage of this kind of storage.  One quick example is the use of eSATA storage solutions in an HTPC environment.  Whether it is the type of media you load or the software you use, chances are you'll run into some issues that can be resolved with further tweaking.  In addition, unless you have have cleverly connected the enclosure to your PC, you'll still have that manual on/off switch to deal with.  I've used some Firewire 800 enclosures that actually turn on and off when you turn your PC on.  However, I haven't found an eSATA enclosure capable of providing this feature out of the box.  Unfortunately, the same applies to the Thermaltake VI-ON. 

Final Thoughts

Despite the common issues mentioned above that most will eventually face, the bottom line here is that the Thermaltake VI-ON is one of the most "stable" eSATA enclosures I have ever used.  Add its exceptionally crafted design and high level of performance, and you have yourself one of the best single drive eSATA enclosures currently on the market.  Also designed to satisfy the HTPC enthusiast, the Thermaltake VI-ON does clearly earn our recommendation.

More information on the new Thermaltake VI-ON models can be found on the Thermaltake Website.

Looking to buy one?  Head on over to Xoxide. They currently stock the eSATA model reviewed here.

Questions?  Comments?  Discuss them here...