SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure Review

A Closer look

99.9% of the time appearance of computer hardware won’t affect my purchases. Computer Cases and enclosures are the .1% of the time that appearance does matter, to an extent. The SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB3.0 3.5″ External Enclosure has a very clean look that appeals to my taste.

The back of the SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB3.0 3.5″ External Enclosure continues the clean appearance, aside from my fingerprints.

The front of the SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB3.0 3.5″ External Enclosure features a blue LED that indicates the status of the SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB3.0 3.5″ External Enclosure. If the light is steady that means the power is on and the drive is idle. If the LED is flashing that is an indicator that the hard drive is being accessed.

The rear panel has all the connections that are needed, DC in, and the USB3.0 port. Next to the DC in is the power button, and next to the USB3.0 port is the button which will enable or disable the fan LED’s.

Looking at one of the sides (they are both the same) we can see a couple of vent holes along the right side of the image. Aside from that, the clean look continues.

Once you slide the hard drive carrier tray out you can see some of the inner workings (and more fingerprints) of the SUNBEAMTECH Airbox USB3.0 3.5″ External Enclosure. The chip you can see on the PCB is a JMicron JMS539. The JMS539 is a bridge controller, which translates the communication protocol between SATA II 3.0G and Super Speed USB commands.

Once the hard drive carrier is pulled completely out we can see the included fan is an 80mm blue led fan that uses eleven blades to keep the noise down and the air moving. A feature that I have found useful during the testing was the pair of cutouts next to the fan. These allowed me to grab the Western Digital Black 640GB hard drive I used for testing very easily.

Installation of the hard drive couldn’t be easier; drop it into the carrier, slide it back so the plugs mate properly and throw in a couple of screws. Above you can see the hard drive mounts with a pair of low profile screws (included) on either side.