The female to male power and SATA adapter of the Antec Easy SATA is held in place by two screws. Its product number is PA-707 and its revision is 1.0. Given the simple nature of the device, the Easy SATA should allow an installed hard drive to have transfer speed rates similar to as if the hard drive was installed directly to an internal SATA port.
A simple female to male SATA and power adapter.
Although Antec advertises the button on the front bezel as an “eject button” on its packaging, it is merely a button that controls the locking mechanism inside the Easy SATA. Indeed, a small tab inside the Easy SATA depresses if the front button is pressed. The tab is large enough so that it can fit the screw hole on the side of a hard drive. It has a slight angle, making it possible to depress it if a hard drive is inserted hard enough.
The lock button, and a slight view of the scratches on the upper left of the flap.
The small plastic locking tab inside the device.
The simple locking mechanism of the Easy SATA works fairly well. Nevertheless, I believe that the small locking tab needs to be depressed with the button whenever a hard drive is inserted. If not, a nice amount of force will be needed to depress the tab with an inserted hard drive. This becomes apparent with a hard drive such as the Hitachi DeskStar T7K500 HDT725025VLAT80 250GB, which has a gap before the screw hole. Therefore, if the locking tab is not depressed prior to insertion, it will lock into the gap before reaching the screw hole. Pushing the hard drive harder into the device locked it in place properly, but how much force the small tab can withstand before breaking is unknown.
The gap before the screw hole makes inserting the HDD difficult.
The front bezel of the Easy SATA is held into place by six plastic tabs, which is similar to the bezel of most 5.25” DVD writers. The eSATA port of the device is screwed onto the front bezel, and it is a simple eSATA to SATA adapter.
The eSATA to SATA adapter, with a 600 mm straight SATA cable.
All metal edges of the Easy SATA are not sharp and you should not have any cuts while handling the device. The overall build of the device is very good and it feels quite sturdy. The only complain I have for it is its locking mechanism. The small locking tab inside the Easy SATA seems fragile. Insertion of a hard drive into the device is quirky unless the locking tab is manually depressed with the front button. A rounded locking tab might have avoided this, seeing as it would be more easily depressed by the force of an inserted hard drive.
Furthermore, an eject button would have been preferably included with the Easy SATA. Removing a hard drive is a manual process and can be quite difficult given the fact that the hard drive fits quite snugly to the power and SATA connector of the Easy SATA.
A simple female to male SATA and power adapter.
Although Antec advertises the button on the front bezel as an “eject button” on its packaging, it is merely a button that controls the locking mechanism inside the Easy SATA. Indeed, a small tab inside the Easy SATA depresses if the front button is pressed. The tab is large enough so that it can fit the screw hole on the side of a hard drive. It has a slight angle, making it possible to depress it if a hard drive is inserted hard enough.
The lock button, and a slight view of the scratches on the upper left of the flap.
The small plastic locking tab inside the device.
The simple locking mechanism of the Easy SATA works fairly well. Nevertheless, I believe that the small locking tab needs to be depressed with the button whenever a hard drive is inserted. If not, a nice amount of force will be needed to depress the tab with an inserted hard drive. This becomes apparent with a hard drive such as the Hitachi DeskStar T7K500 HDT725025VLAT80 250GB, which has a gap before the screw hole. Therefore, if the locking tab is not depressed prior to insertion, it will lock into the gap before reaching the screw hole. Pushing the hard drive harder into the device locked it in place properly, but how much force the small tab can withstand before breaking is unknown.
The gap before the screw hole makes inserting the HDD difficult.
The front bezel of the Easy SATA is held into place by six plastic tabs, which is similar to the bezel of most 5.25” DVD writers. The eSATA port of the device is screwed onto the front bezel, and it is a simple eSATA to SATA adapter.
The eSATA to SATA adapter, with a 600 mm straight SATA cable.
All metal edges of the Easy SATA are not sharp and you should not have any cuts while handling the device. The overall build of the device is very good and it feels quite sturdy. The only complain I have for it is its locking mechanism. The small locking tab inside the Easy SATA seems fragile. Insertion of a hard drive into the device is quirky unless the locking tab is manually depressed with the front button. A rounded locking tab might have avoided this, seeing as it would be more easily depressed by the force of an inserted hard drive.
Furthermore, an eject button would have been preferably included with the Easy SATA. Removing a hard drive is a manual process and can be quite difficult given the fact that the hard drive fits quite snugly to the power and SATA connector of the Easy SATA.
