Kingwin Mini Shuttle External Enclosure

Manufacturer: Kingwin Inc.
Supplied by: Kingwin Inc.
Street Price: $36

by Dean Barker (3/25/2005)

Introduction

External USB drive racks don’t always have to be butt ugly beige items breaking up the lines of your otherwise sharp looking rig.  Kingwin has repeatedly shown in the past that they enjoy mixing things up a bit with a splash of style.  Take a look at their bubble LED external HDD and 5.25” USB device racks if you don’t believe me.  Today, Kingwin takes a walk down the style without flash road.  Offering external racks for 3.5” HDD as well as 5.25” devices, their newest aluminum Shuttle line should turn a few heads.  These USB enclosures round out the utility value of any workstation.  Access to a loose drive's information simply by quickly installing it in the enclosure and plugging it into a free USB port couldn't be much more straight forward.  Today, thanks to the good people at Kingwin, we have an opportunity to take a look at this sleek little beauty. 

Specifications

• Application: USB to EIDE External Drive Enclosure

• Observed dimensions: 204 x 122 x 40mm 

• Observed weight: 309 gms

• Construction: Aluminum

• Can handle up to 400 gb disks

• Power and Fan failure LED Indicators

• Cooling: Internal 40mm cooling fan

• Plug and Play operation

• Available Colors: Black/Silver, Silver/Silver

What you get

Included with the Mini Shuttle is a silver mesh covered USB cable, external power cord and a driver CD.  The driver is for pre-Win2k/XP machines needing USB driver support.

The unit

Kingwin's Mini Shuttle's good looks grow out of their simplicity.  Two thin gauge (1mm thick) black aluminum plates form the top and bottom plates with the sides being silver.  Almost like an Oreo cookie for a robot.  The thin gauge pays off in the form of weight.  Coming in at an observed 309 gms, the Mini Shuttle weights less than most aftermarket heatsinks.

The rear of the unit has a power on/off switch, USB connection port and power plug connection.  No unnecessary fluff here as Kingwin is looking to make this rack all business.

NEXT