SilverStone DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure Review

External storage is still very important to a lot of people.  Especially people who use external storage for transferring files between 2 different computers or people use it for a work machine and a home machine.  2.5-inch hard drives have been overlooked for a while now, but since solid state drives use that form factor SilverStone has released the DS221 which is a dual bay 2.5-inch external hard drive enclosure that supports RAID.  Let’s take a look…

Special thanks to SilverStone for providing us with the DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure to review.

Features
– 3Gbits SATA II data transfer speed
– Slim and light portable aluminum enclosure
– Support dual bay 2.5” SATA hard drives
– Support RAID 0/1/JBOD function
– Plug and Play with hot-swappable connection
– Maximum 3Gbits data transfer speed via eSATA interface
– Maximum compatibility with USB2.0 (480Mbits)

Specifications

Model No. SST-DS221B(Black)
Enclosure material Aluminum
Color Black
Power requirement 5V 2A power adapter
Operating system support Windows 2000/XP, Vista, 7
Mac OS 9.x (Apple USB support 1.3.5 and greater) and Mac OS 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4
Mac:G3 processor or greater
Computer with eSATA or USB 2.0/1.1 interface
PC
HDD size support 2.5” hard drive x 2 (compatible with 9.5mm models only)
HDD interface support SATA hard drive
Minimum System Requirements Windows 2000/XP, Vista, 7
Mac OS 9.x (Apple USB support 1.3.5 and greater) and Mac OS 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4
Mac:G3 processor or greater
Computer with eSATA or USB 2.0/1.1 interface
PC
Enclosure interface eSATA (Max. 3Gbits)
USB2.0 (Max. 480Mbits)
HDD capacity support 1TB Hard Disk and below
Net Weight 370g±10g
Dimension 168mm(L)x120mm(W)x28.3mm(H)

Packaging
The DS221 comes in a very nice retail package with a picture of the enclosure on the front and a list of specifications and features on the back.

Silverstone DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure Silverstone DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure

Opening the box up everything is nicely packed inside.  Getting everything out you will find the DS221 enclosure, USB cable, eSATA cable, stand, power cable and a manual.

Silverstone DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure Silverstone DS221 External 2.5-inch HDD Dual Bay RAID Enclosure

About Author