Since the URANUS supports both USB 2.0 and eSATA the choice is up to you as to how you want to use the URANUS. eSATA isn’t widely available as of yet since manufactures haven’t come out with mainboards that natively support eSATA. However the URANUS is supplied with a SATA to eSATA adapter cable so that you can hookup your PC to support eSATA. If you’re using a Laptop however you’ll need to get a device such as the APIOTEK Dual eSATA II or something similar if you want to take advantage of the eSATA connection.
One thing we didn’t like with the URANUS is that the supplied eSATA cable was a bit too short. The maximum length an eSATA cable can be is 2 meters but the cable supplied was around 45-60cm. So I do hope VIZO makes a note of this and make it a point to include a longer cable when releasing future shipments of this unit.
A thing to note about the backup feature of the URANUS is that it will not work if you plan to use eSATA as the connection choice, so if you want to backup data in such a case you’ll have to get some other 3rd party application. There are heaps around, it’s just a matter of budget and what features you need. Our personal preference is True Image from Acronis.
We have been using the URANUS for a few weeks now and certainly are happy with the quality and features it provides. We were mainly using the eSATA connection with this unit and the data transfer rates between PC to machine was just as fast as transferring data between an internal hard drive. It never failed on us even while using the USB connection either, and it delivers exactly what is promised. We hope VIZO gets wider publicity and hope we see more vendors carrying their products as they certainly are in par with the top manufactures of similar devices. If you as a user are currently looking for a good 3.5” hard drive enclosure we truly recommend having a look at the URANUS as it has served us well and you will not be disappointed. Head over to VIZO’s website to see where these units can be purchased.
