The Thermaltake BlacX HDD docking station comes in a modest-sized black box wrapped in thin plastic. The usage of colours and graphics are at a minimum, giving the product a professional look. The front of the box gives a nice image of the product, along with a quick enumeration of features, such as hard drive support, operating system support and supported connectors. The box states a long 3 year warranty with the product. Such a long warranty period clearly shows that Thermaltake backs the quality of their product. Furthermore, the packaging indicates that the BlacX is limited to hard drives below 1TB. If you recall previously, Thermaltake’s website stated something different; it mentioned support of SATA hard drives up to 2TB. Consequently, it seems as though the BlacX may be compatible with much larger hard drives than indicated. The back of the box describes the features and specifications of the BlacX in more detail, along with some images of how the product functions. In exception to supported hard drive capacities, this information is identical to what can be found on Thermaltake’s website.
The right and left sides of the packaging retains the clean look of the overall package, with a simple logo of the product and a list of the package contents. It states that the package includes the hard drive dock itself, a USB connector, an eSATA connector, a manual and a power adapter.
Opening the packaging is straight-forward; asides from the plastic, a carton fold holds the top lid in place. The BlacX HDD dock station and the other accessories are individually sealed in plastic. A minimum of Styrofoam is used in the packaging and its purpose is to simply separate the BlacX from the accessories. Five accessories are included with the docking station:
- a user manual;
- some documentation on how to setup the BlacX;
- a 6 feet power adapter;
- a 3 feet USB connector;
- and a thick 26 AWG, 3 feet eSATA connector.
The BlacX includes all the accessories you would need to fully enjoy the product. Some might have preferred if a SATA to eSATA bracket was included, but most modern motherboards now include an eSATA port on its rear I/O panel. The user manual and the documentation of the BlacX are available for download on Thermaltake USA’s website:
Link: Manual and documentation of the BlacX
Overall, the usage of packing material of the Thermaltake BlacX is at a minimum. The size of the box is near perfect seeing as it fits the docking station and the accessories snugly without unused space. The plastic wrapping of the box was not necessary in terms of protecting the product. Furthermore, individually plastic-wrapped accessories seem to not have been necessary either, seeing as they were well secured in the box already.
The right and left sides of the packaging retains the clean look of the overall package, with a simple logo of the product and a list of the package contents. It states that the package includes the hard drive dock itself, a USB connector, an eSATA connector, a manual and a power adapter.
Opening the packaging is straight-forward; asides from the plastic, a carton fold holds the top lid in place. The BlacX HDD dock station and the other accessories are individually sealed in plastic. A minimum of Styrofoam is used in the packaging and its purpose is to simply separate the BlacX from the accessories. Five accessories are included with the docking station:
- a user manual;
- some documentation on how to setup the BlacX;
- a 6 feet power adapter;
- a 3 feet USB connector;
- and a thick 26 AWG, 3 feet eSATA connector.
The BlacX includes all the accessories you would need to fully enjoy the product. Some might have preferred if a SATA to eSATA bracket was included, but most modern motherboards now include an eSATA port on its rear I/O panel. The user manual and the documentation of the BlacX are available for download on Thermaltake USA’s website:
Link: Manual and documentation of the BlacX
Overall, the usage of packing material of the Thermaltake BlacX is at a minimum. The size of the box is near perfect seeing as it fits the docking station and the accessories snugly without unused space. The plastic wrapping of the box was not necessary in terms of protecting the product. Furthermore, individually plastic-wrapped accessories seem to not have been necessary either, seeing as they were well secured in the box already.
