Antec MX-1 External hard drive enclosure (eSATA and USB) $39.99 at Circuit City (no rebates!)

Highly rated Antec MX-1 3.5" external hard drive enclosure. Supports SATA hard drives.
External interface is eSATA and USB. Highly rated enclosure.
Free shipping from Circuit City, or in store pickup.

People seemed happy when the same enclosure was on sale at Newegg for $39.99 after a $30 rebate + $6 shipping. Even better price here with no rebate.

Link to item: http://www.CircuitCity.com/ssm/Antec-Actively-Cooled-CPU-Case-MX-1/sem/rpsm/oid/193359/catOid/-13015/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Old thread: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=759359&highlight_key=y&keyword1=mx-1

Don't forget to call them on the 24-minute guarantee if your order isn't ready when you get there. When I got there, the guy had to actually go out to the computer department of the retail space, find it, and bring it back. It's supposed to be ready for you at the pickup area, either on the rollers or on the nearby shelves in the warehouse space. At first he tried to claim that it was 24 minutes from the time you got to the store - HA! (it's 24 minutes from the time you get the email confirmation). So YMMV GREATLY, but I actually got a $24 gift card out of the deal as well

Edit: I've since set it up. Comments:
1.) The way drives screw into the enclosure is kind of a pain (you need to unscrew 9 screws total to get the drive installed). However, the screws use nice little rubber "dampeners" that means the drive doesn't vibrate against the case. Noiseless is definitely worth a few extra screws.
2.) The fan is VERY quiet and seems to keep the drive quiet cool
3.) Unfortunately, the enclosure itself does not go to sleep when the computer goes into standby (the small LED and fan stay on). However, the hard drive itself does turn off. This means that power consumption goes from about 10-18W down to about 3W. Still pretty good, and since you can't hear it, I don't really think it matters. I've connected mine to my media center and it's working great. Nice that an eSATA bracket is included.

Thanks! I desperately need one of these.

Nice find with the eSATA connector, this is a good deal. Now to find a way to use a coupon on this

Bought one! thanks OP

And here is a review of the case by SPCR

CLICK for Review

This is definitely one of the better external enclosures out there. I have had it with my 750GB Seagate Free Agent Pro, going to RMA for a new one and fleaBay it (the drive freezes every 30 seconds or so when transferring large files with eSATA connection, and lags the heck out of my computer...).

Smokin' deal, thanks OP!

Rumor has it that its included:
Included USB cable, eSATA cable, and eSATA bracket to convert internal SATA to eSATA
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=77150

If you need to add esata to your current machine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812226003

ranchopedro said: If you need to add esata to your current machine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812226003It's not listed under "What's in the box", but an eSata bracket is already included with this.

Heh... KidCharliemain beat my by a minute

z0ner said: lhotdeals said: And here is a review of the case by SPCR

CLICK for Review

This is definitely one of the better external enclosures out there. I have had it with my 750GB Seagate Free Agent Pro, going to RMA for a new one and fleaBay it (the drive freezes every 30 seconds or so when transferring large files with eSATA connection, and lags the heck out of my computer...).

It's widely known that the eSATA implementation on the Free Agents is plagued with problems. I had random lockups and disconnects on both of my 750's until I decided to switch to USB2.

how wide?

Can anyone comment on the functionality with macs? I'm certain that it works fine, but it still doesn't list any compatibility for it. Ordered it anyways, now I just gotta get a drive for it ... Maybe a 1 TB will go nice

I should also mention that CircuitCity wouldn't let me order it for delivery.

SickTeddyBear said:

Macs work with just about anything a PC will work with. Hard drives, enclosures, USB, SATA, etc., are standards that are completely platform or OS independent.

I wish people would please stop asking questions that were only relevant 25 years ago. There is nothing special or different about a Mac. It works just like a PC. It has a different OS, but other than that, almost anything you can buy to use with your PC will work with your Mac. Period.

USB may be standard but that does not mean all devices work as expected. Of course my mac will be receiving the USB data sent from any USB device, but that does not mean it knows what to do with it, even if it is something as simple as file storage. There has to be drivers for the chipset either already built into the kernel or avaiable for download, and not all External hard drive chipsets are the same. As an example, the external hard drive I use with my mac has USB (cypress chipset) and Firewire (Oxford 911 chipset) on it. When I use it with USB, every time I eject the device, the hard drive keeps spinning normally. When I do the same exact thing except with firewire then it will shut down the hard drive. While both work as expected in Windows.

Although I can no longer think of an example where OS X would completly refuse to read any external hard drive/usb flash device, I do know that some work better then others when it comes to added chipset features. The Oxford Firewire chipset was a big deal to me on my first external drive purchase. Also some more "advanced" USB devices, such as printers, TV cards, wireless mice, etc) do not work with a Mac, despite the fact that it could very easily do so. I guess a better worded question would be "Does this external case have any ticks in terms of functionality with OS X since it does not list direct support for it?". And since antec does not list what usb chipset it uses I can not find it out on my own. (Sorry for your misunderstanding, and thanks your subsequent "you're wrong and you suck at life" reply.)

Just sayin'

Are these stackable or will that obstruct air flow? I'd like to get two.

You can save a couple bucks by buying at best buy for $73.99 and getting a 110% of the difference price adjustment.

73.99- 39.99 = 34.00 so $39.99 - $3.40 = $36.59 at best buy after price adjustment.

Thanks OP been needing something like this to put a few of my extra HDs in.

I ordered it online and I guess they didn't have any in stock in the store, so I ended up getting a $24 gift card when I showed up to pick it up. Not too bad I guess.

i went to CC yesterday, and they had it in store for 69.99. They wouldnt match the price on their own website. so upset. shoulda ordered it online at that price and picked it up. uhg

too slow... dead, price now back to $69.99...

thech33se said: USB may be standard but that does not mean all devices work as expected. Of course my mac will be receiving the USB data sent from any USB device, but that does not mean it knows what to do with it, even if it is something as simple as file storage. There has to be drivers for the chipset either already built into the kernel...

All modern drives and enclosures work with the standard I/O routines built into all operating systems. There are no drivers needed for either. And yes, there can be quirks with how an enclosure interacts with an OS, but those are quirks that are usually the result of firmware bugs, and not any sort of inherent incompatibility.

Windows, for example, has had legendary, numerous, and catastrophic problems interacting with Prolific enclosure chipsets. Firmware upodates have solved many of those problems, but some still exist. The same problems do not exist with Oxford chipsets. That doesn't mean that Prolific isn't meant to be used with a PC, it just means that there are bugs that still need to be worked out. That's different from saying that something doesn't work at all because it needs a driver. You can't conflate the two.

The deal is back at $39.99. I ordered online went into the store and picked it up. Great deal! I plugged it into my Mac Mini and it operates fine.

mdpo said: Can this enclosure handle 1TB hard disks?

thanks

yes

aru808 said: does anyone has Buy.com rebate form for this enclosure. They r back in stock but they don't have any link for the rebate. plz help ??

Here's the link to the rebate that ran from 2/4/08 - 2/10/08.

I purchased this on 2/4/08 when it was in stock, but my order has now changed to "On Order". Luckily this rebate doesn't have to be mailed in until 3/10/08. So hopefully, Buy.com ships it before then, otherwise, I'll be canceling my order.