Reviews

Plumax 5.25" Firewire 1394/USB 2.0
External Drive Enclosure Review

By: Bill Woelk
Date: 6/10/04

Model Number: PM-525C2-PPS
Manufacturer: UML Technologies
Manufactured: China (address unknown)
Audience: Computer Enthusiast's, System Builders, and Computer Consultants.
Price Paid: $37.99 (on 4/29/04, at Deal Sonic)
Current Price: $32.99 (on 6/29/04, at Deal Sonic)
Retail Price: $79.95
Purchased from: Deal Sonic www.dealsonic.com
Overall Rating: * * * * (four out of five stars)

Specifications:

• Can be used with 3.5, or 5.25-inch IDE drives (internal)
• Maximum drive length 8 inches
• Quick and easy to disassemble and reassemble.
• Firewire - Prolific Chipset
• USB 2.0 - Prolific Chipset
• Interface Transfer Rate: USB 2.0: 480 Mbit / Sec,  Firewire : 400 Mbit / Sec
• IEEE-1394 Firewire, or USB 2.0/1.1 interface
• Works with PC and Mac
• Plug and Play
• Hot-swappable
• Supports Up To 300 GB Hard Drives
• Supports up to UDMA/133
• No Max Hard Drive RPM
• 100 - 240 VAC Input at .3 to .6 amps
• Warning: Do not connect any other kind of high current devices to the enclosure Firewire ports; like Video Cameras, Camcorders, etc., it could damage your unit.

System and other requirements:

• Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
• Mac OS 8.6 / 9.X / 10.X or above (Ver.10.03,10.1,10.12)
• USB 2.0/1.1, or Firewire 1394 interface
• Available AC power outlet
• 3.5-inch internal IDE device
• For Window ME/2000/XP and Mac 9.0 or higher use built-in driver. (No need to install driver)
• Window 98SE driver installation required

Dimensions and Warranty:

• Dimensions: 10" L. x 6.5" W. x 2.5" H.
• Weight 1 Lb - 14 Oz (4 Lbs - 3.0 Oz. w/tested DVD drive installed)
  
• Standard warranty: 1 year warranty

Package Contents:

• One 3.5" USB 2.0 and/or Firewire external enclosure
• One detachable A/C Power Cord
• 1 x USB 2.0 A to B cable, 1 x Fire Wire (6-pin to 6-pin Type 1 Male - Type 1 Male) cable
• Driver on CD
• 5.25" Half-height blank cover
  
• Mounting hardware
• User guide

The Plumax model PM-525C2-PPS 5.25" wide external drive case supports both USB 2.0 and Firewire-1394 interface specifications. Unlike most competitive products the Plumax has its own built-in power supply, versus an external wall transformer, or in line power pack. While this adds slightly to the overall weight of the unit, the increased convenience of having a detachable standard AC power cord far out-weighs the slight extra bulk. The power supply was a compact switching type power supply in contrast to the more bulky transformer power supplies used in some other external cases. It is positioned in the rear of the case.

The case when fully assembled is nice and sleek looking. It has a clear transparent top and bottom that are finished on the inside in an opaque silver finish. This gives a sort of 3-D depth effect to the top and bottom covers. Yes the bottom of this case looks almost as good as the top! The sides are a dark silvery gray color with thin horizontal grooves running the length to add some extra styling. Because of its neutral color scheme this case should look good with either a black, gray, or white drive installed. The Plumax case is also available from some dealers in an all black design.

I purchased my case to mount an internal TDK model 440N DVD/RW all media drive inside. Plumax included a small bag with mounting screws to fit most standard ATA CD-ROM and internal hard drives. The drive mount screws recess mount into the underside of the case so there are no sharp heads protruding to scratch your desktop. The mounting holes are actually 1" long recessed grooves to allow you to adjust the drive in an out for a nice flush fit with the front bezel. Although advertised as being able handle a 3.5" drive, my box lacked the necessary 5.25" to 3.5" front bezel plate to adapt it to fit a smaller drive. I don't know why any one would want to mount a 3.5" drive into an over-sized 5.25" enclosure, when there are so many nice compact 3.5" cases on the market to choose from.

The TDK DVD/RW drive installed easily with no problems. This DVD drive is almost 8" long. Any longer and it probably would not have cleared the electronics and cabling in the rear of the case. The ATA, CD audio and power cables that attach the drive to the interface board at the rear of the case were all the right length to make a good connections, without a lot of extra cable to contend with. The inside of the case is lined with aluminum sheet metal to provide added strength, plus its provides electrical grounding protection and an RF shield against external electrical noise. This helps ensure that your data is transferred at the maximum possible speed without errors and at the same time shields against RF emissions.

The clam shell case is assembled without any screws. Instead it uses an ingenious system consisting of two horizontal decorative side strips that run the length of the enclosure. These wrap around both the front and the rear of the case corners and engage keyed slots in the sides of both clam shells. The curved ends on the side panels snap into place to provide a secure locking system to lock the top and bottom clam shells together. The end result is a clean, modern looking case with no visible fasteners showing.

The rear of the case has a single type "B" USB connector that has an inverted "D" shape to it. This means that this case can not be daisy chained with other USB devices. It requires a dedicated USB connection to the Mac or PC its connected to.

There are two IEEE1394 Firewire ports to allow daisy chaining of another device like a 3.5" hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD/RW, or other similar device. They do not recommend connecting high current devices such as video cameras, or camcorders. A warning sticker warns that connecting such a device could damage the unit.

To the left of the 1394 connector is a miniature stereo audio jack to allow a multimedia drive inside to connect to your sound board input or amplified speakers. No external audio cable is supplied. To the left of audio jack is a small 50 mm dual ball bearing cooling fan. The fan runs very quietly. To the left of the fan is a standard AC power input jack and a on/off power rocker switch. These items are similar to what you see on the back side of ATX power supplies. The case has both CE and FCC approvals.

The front of the case is only about 5/16 of an inch larger all around than the installed 5.25" drive's bezel. There is a small rectangular LED located in the lower right hand front corner of the case near the installed drive bezel. This is a dual color LED that changes color from green for power on, to orange when reading or writing data. My TDK DVD drive only has a single green power LED, so I found the activity LED on the Plumax to be a useful indicator when burning disks.

A search of Google turned up Deal Sonic as one of the most common, least expensive supplier's of this and other similar Plumax products. I turned up six hits on Yahoo's Shopping site, numerous hits on Price Watch. No hits on either C-Net, Price Grabber, or Price Scan. I did not search eBay.

The user manual is a typical translated from Chinese to slightly rough English manual. It is fairly terse and to the point. The manual covers the following topics: hardware and software system requirements, hardware installation, device installation for Windows 98SE, ME/2000/XP, Mac OS v8.6, 9, and OS-X., using the Combo External drive, and how to partition a hard disk under the various supported operating systems.

A driver CD includes a USB driver for Windows 98SE and Mac Toaster support. No drivers are required with either Windows XP, 2000, or ME operating systems. I tested the unit on both Windows XP and Windows 2000. The unit was properly detected and installed automatically under these two plug and play operating systems. I don't own a Mac, so I can't vouch for the Mac installation. A Setup program is included on a CD to install the Prolific chipset drivers under Windows 98SE. For the Mac they recommend downloading the most recent mass storage drivers for USB port applications from the Apple Software Update site.

I had some difficulty using the Plumax External Combo unit with my Creative Labs Audigy Firewire 1394 port under Windows XP with EZ-CD Creator 6.0 Basic. My TDK DVD drive would lock-up and stop responding to the burning software during the middle, or near the end of DVD/CD burns. This could be due to the fact that Creative employs a slightly non-standard Firewire interface on the Audigy card. I had fewer coasters when using the USB 2.0 interface on my MSI KT-400 Ultra, or Epox EP-8K7A+ main board. In all fairness to Plumax these problems could have been caused by the TDK drive firmware, recording media, or by software bugs. With so many variables it is hard to pin down the exact cause of my coasters.

Using the Plumax under Windows 2000 Pro with EZ-CD Creator 5.0 Basic, yielded the most consistent results with no coasters produced yet to date.

Prolific Technology, Inc. manufactures the ATA to USB/1394 Bridge chips used on the interface card inside of the Plumax case. Prolific has a nice Internet support site with drivers at: www.tech.prolific.com.tw. This Internet site has both support documentation and drivers to work with their various bridge chips they market to OEM's like Plumax. Bridge chips are used to connect ATA hard drives and ATAPI DVD/CD drives to USB and Firewire data ports.

Cons: No manufacturer's warranty contact information is provided in the included packaging or documentation. I could not find any reference to Plumax, or UML Technologies anywhere on the Internet, even after trying multiple Internet search sites. This leads me to believe that Plumax is a  house brand for a Chinese OEM. Deal Sonic does offer RMA service for defective returns. They do state that they charge a 20% restocking fee for items they determine are not defective and a 25% restocking fee for items returned with missing accessories.

The provided USB 2.0 and Firewire cables were both 42" long. if you have a PC that rests on the floor and you want to use the Plumax on a top of your desk, you may need to purchase a longer USB A-B, or Firewire interface cable.

Although the case supports ATA drives up to 300 gigabytes, the user manual makes no mention of the fact that you will need an updated version of FDISK to partition hard drives over 64 GB under Windows 98SE. Windows 2000 and XP also require a Microsoft update patch to break the 137.4 GB drive size barrier that they both have.

Pros: Nice modern looking, well designed and constructed case, built-in power supply, quiet ball bearing fan, two-color activity LED, built-in power switch, has both CE and FCC approvals, stereo audio output jack, both USB 2.0 and Firewire-1394 interfaces supported and cables provided, excellent price to performance ratio.

I gave the Plumax and overall rating of four out of five stars.
(****)

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