Gadget Review: Benfei SATA to USB-C Drive Enclosure

The good folks at Benfei know that I'm always losing my USB Thumb Drives. They're just too damn small. I crave something bigger and harder to lose. Not as huge as a CD Drive, but not as small as a MiniDisc. Something chunky and satisfying, with a slim elegance. So they've sent me their SATA to USB-C drive enclosure.

It's a cute little box, with a built-in USB-C cable.

The cable has one of those weird adapters which lets you convert it back to USB-A. Personally, I think we should force everyone to USB-C and not pander to the laggards who refuse to embrace the future. The box is "tool free" - which means you can slide the top off with ease.

Inside is the standard SATA plug, waiting for your disk. The unit also comes with some extra foam padding - so you can ensure nothing rattles around in there.

I couldn't find my SSD, but I had an old 320GB HDD laying around, so shoved that in there.

As was to be expected, it is plug-and-play technology. For Linux nerds, this shows up as 152d:0583 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JMS583Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 Bridge.

You can read the JMicron datasheed for the chip.

For a laugh, I plugged it into my Android phone:

USB-C has reached the sort of maturity where you can be reasonably sure that plugging in random gadgets will just work.

I did a quick drive benchmark and it seemed to top out at 60MB/s for reading and writing. To be fair, that may just be the age of my piece of spinning rust.

For less than a tenner, this is a great gadget to have in your bag. It's quick and simple to open, you don't need to faff around with screws. The cable is a little short - but you probably don't want it trailing all over your desk.

Oh, and it has a blue LED to let you know it is working. Thankfully, it isn't overly bright so doesn't cause a distraction.