Page 2 - A Closer Look - Outside
The Eagle enclosure's design permits the user to change between two included front faceplates. Orange is the default faceplate color; as seen above, and works quite well with the aesthetics of this device as it flows very well with the rest of the black enclosure. Personally, I find this color more appealing as its color contrasts uniquely with the rest of the enclosure. The rest of the enclosure is composed of aluminum. Aluminum is a metal conductor and dissipates heat relatively better; unlike insulators such as plastic. Overall, the build quality of the Eagle Consus I-Series ET-CSIU2J-BK is very good, from the solid aluminum to the smooth faceplates.
As seen here, the changeable faceplate is held on by four pegs. A small Eagle logo is located on the middle left side, which can be seen even when the detachable faceplate is attached. This faceplate shape has a small cutout so that the Eagle logo and the blue LED can be seen. Speaking of which, the large blue LED is right next to the Eagle logo, to indicate both power status and HDD activity. One of the shortcomings of this LED is the hard drive activity light, since it's not very prominent when blinking. The holes near the middle are used to allow heat to dissipate.
The back of the Eagle Consus I-Series is actually quite simple. It has only two ports on the back: a Type-B USB port, and a rounded power input connector. One small problem I had was a loose power input connection; the power cable would simply come off at times if moved slightly. There is also a small little black button that is used with the bundled back up software for its one-touch backup function. A measured 3.5cm fan is installed while not fully recessed into the chassis, so it sticks out a bit. For a device this size, the fan is actually quite small. What is missing is an eSATA connector in this regard. This will hamper drive performance, since eSATA is far superior to the standard USB2.0 devices in terms of performance. Many new computers have eSATA ports. The thing is that USB 2.0 devices theoretically have a transfer rate of 480Mbps or 60MB/s, but most drives will not best the 40MB/s zone due to interface limitations. eSATA has a theoretical speed of 3000Mbps or 375MB/s -- hard drives won't max out the available bandwidth, but at least it won't bottleneck like USB 2.0.
The bottom of the enclosure is black like the rest of it; matching its color scheme. There are four elevated plastic feet that allows better grip on the surface it sits on; and also prevents scratching other surfaces. It also serves as a method of vibration dampening. Two serial code labels are located at the bottom. Finally, there are four screws with two located in the middle and two of them hidden near the two back plastic feet and in front of the UPC codes.
Page Index
Page 1 - Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
Page 2 - A Closer Look - Outside
Page 3 - A Closer Look - Inside, Installation
Page 4 - Testing & Conclusion
