Unboxing and Short Review of Teratrend's TS231U Enclosure
by: poldopunk
"Who the heck is Teratrend?" was the first thing that came in my mind when Jeremy of Fine Upgrades told me he has a hard drive enclosure sample for testing from Teratrend. Turns out Teratrend is a division of Silverstone focused mostly on storage. Well, more like an unboxing and some tests. "Sure. Send it in." was how I replied. What arrived was a pleasant surprise. Let's take a look.
For a hard drive enclosure, this thing is big and heavy, too. I thought it was one of those brick-sized enclosure. Turns out, this thing is dual bay so it needs its' own internal power source to function properly. Let's open it up...
Okay, so plastic foams makes packaging bigger, that explains it. Not only that, the TS231U foam inserts are rigid but cushions the enclosure very well preventing it from getting damaged in transit. That dent you see on the photo is a testament of its rigidity. Out of the box you go.
What you get tucked into the nooks and crannies of the box: A detailed manual, a USB 3.0, eSATA and power cables. I wasn't really expecting anything but the USB 3.0 and eSATA cables were a nice addition.
Just how big the TS231U is? I took the recently opened AP123 and sat it beside the enclosure. If this still doesn't give you an idea, it's about a couple inches longer than most 3.5-inch hard drives.
A vanity shot. The brushed aluminum front cover is just beautiful. Not only that, it looks very professional. This thing would sit very well besides NAS devices.
Those 3 cables from the accessories all plug in here. From left to right, eSATA, USB 3.0 and ac power but I guess you should have already figured out that one, by now. The enclosure's power supply, main board and 2 hard drives are cooled by this big-ass 70mm fan which is more than enough to keep your hard drive within ideal operating condition.
The front fascia aluminum cover opens to reveal 2 3.5-inch hard drive bays. It also gives you the operator panel — power and mode button and the RAID switch. The switch is way too recessed, I couldn't move it with my fingertips and had to use a flathead screwdriver. Teratrend, please fix.
Installation is very easy. Slide the hard drive in. That's pretty much it. If you can't figured that one out, I don't think any hard drive enclosure or docks would do for you.
Removal is also an easy task, even for someone with fat fingers. Simply pinch the lever that locks the hard drive into place, and it'll partially be ejected. Just enough leverage for you to pull the hard drive out.
Light indicators that show power and hard drive operation.
So there you have it, a look at Teratrend's TS231U dual-bay hard drive enclosure. The only thing I would want from this is for Teratrend to add ethernet capability but that would make this hard drive a NAS device. Something that would probably deserve its own lineup.
Teratrend's TS231U Enclosure Review from other review sites:
Teratrend TS231U Dual Bay USB 3.0 / eSATA Enclosure Review :: TweakTown
Teratrend TS231U RAID External HDD Enclosure by SilverStone Review | 3dGameMan.com
Unboxing and Short Review of Teratrend's TS231U Enclosure
Originally Posted by jhnpl
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
