Product Reviews

WiebeTech bills its ToughTech XE Mini as 'the most portable quad-interface enclosure available', and when you take it out of the box it's easy to see why. Despite measuring only 130mm x 80mm x 20mm, this hard drive enclosure squeezes two FireWire 800 ports, an eSata port and a USB 2 interface onto its rear. There's also a FireWire 800 to 400 cable in the box, so you can connect it to a FireWire 400 port on your Mac if you don't have FireWire 800 or eSata. One of the ways that Wiebetech has managed to squeeze as many ports on the back is by combining the eSata and USB 2 ports into one socket. It's a clever idea that works well.

In addition to a FireWire 800 to 400 cable, there are cables for USB 2, FireWire 800, and eSata. There's also an AC adaptor, for when sufficient power can't be supplied over the data interface.

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ToughTech XE Mini ships as an empty Sata enclosure which can be fitted with any 2.5in eSata drive, or as a complete hard drive in a number of capacities. We tested a 200GB 7200rpm model.

The aluminium case feels robust and the whole unit is surprisingly light. Internally the case is fitted with ToughMount strips between drive and case to provide anti-shock protection. And the ToughTech XE Mini is bootable over FireWire.

In our tests, using Xbench, the drive recorded transfer speeds of 32MB/sec for sequential uncached writing using 256K blocks and 38 MB/sec for sequential uncached reading, using the FireWire 800 to 400 converter. Using FireWire 800 to FireWire 800, the equivalent write and read speeds were 17MB/sec and 60MB/sec. That drop in write speeds is an inexplicable anomaly.

If you have a Mac with an eSata card, you'll be able to reach significantly higher transfer rates - eSata has a theoretical maximum throughput of 1200 Mbits/sec compared to FireWire 800's 800 Mbits/sec.

The ToughTech XE Mini is an excellent piece of engineering. It's tough, light and, if you carry it around in the optional soft-grain carry case, should last for years. The inclusion of four interface options and the cables necessary to use them is welcome. However, most of us don't have Macs with eSata ports and may be better off with the cheaper Tough Tech Mini, which has a standard USB 2 port instead.