Intro:

    Having previously looked at the 2.5" X-TREME Files, I was pondering which one would someone choose, and for what reasons. I think you should take a look at this one, and decide. I'll of course link to the 2.5" review, if you hadn't seen it, or don't remember it. Overall, this is an easy way to back up your files with a touch of a button. Come see what I like, and don't like about this.

Feature Points:

    The next few sections are more or less copied from the Coolmax website in regards to this product.

1. SECURITY:  "Security for multi-users" is the most important feature: This provides the capability to back-up data under the log-on user name only. This allows several users to simultaneously perform tasks like backing-up their individual files separately and securely on their own using the same hard drive.

2. ONE BUTTON BACK-UP:  With the single touch of a button, it provides users the capability and flexibility to back-up both "TOTAL" & "SELECTIVE" files. It includes a Smart Exclusion list: during the Total Backup, the following file types will not be backed up. they are the exe, com, dll, tmp files as well as all of the files in the Windows System folder and Program Files folder to avoid changing the setting of the computer's operating system.

3. RESTORE:  Another easy to set-up interface allows users the capability to "restore" any corrupt, lost or deleted files or data from the entire system.

4. STORAGE:  This is aside from the standard function as a regular portable external storage for hard drive.

All computers fail eventually. And they always seem to do it when you need them the most. Protect yourself by backing up. Make it easy using Coolmax’s XTREME FILES data backup system. You'll be glad you did. While we all should back up our data regularly, do we really practice what we preach? I don't think so. How about if it were easy? Well, how about 3 buttons, like Selective Backup, Total Backup, and Restore? That about sums the COOLMAX 3.5" X-treme Files up for you.

A good rule of thumb for backing up your data is: “If you can't take it with you, it's not a backup.”

The packaging and includes:

    Coolmax has shown to have pleasing packaging. Ok, packaging is not a big deal when ordering over the net, but in brick and mortar places, good packaging can make or break your product at times. I personally don't care if something comes in a white or a brown box, but there are things we need to know beforehand to make an educated purchase. Nice overviews about the features as seen above, are on the packaging. It is nicely laid out, and not cluttered with too much information.

(1) Front of package	(2) Back of package	(3) What you get

    Starting the flow again here, picture 3, shows the contents of the box. We see a 3 foot long USB cable, 4 screws that to install your Hard Drive, (not pictured) a driver CD that is required to use the one touch functions of backing up and restoring, (I might also add you will need to install the driver for this enclosure) the AC power adapter and cord, and a manual that covers not only the physical installation of your Hard Drive, (if applicable) it covers how to setup the Hard Drive, and in general is informative on how to use the device.

    Below you can see the power block, and the AC cable. I am not going to measure those cables, but let me say that I have the power block comfortably on my desk, without having to pull or tug in anyway from where it is plugged in onto a UPS on the floor. Even though not pictured below, the power block does have a green LED that lights up when it is receiving power. Using my hindsight of 20/20, you don't see a power switch on the power block or on the power cable do you? Guess what, there isn't one on the enclosure either. I'll elaborate more on that later.

(4) AC to DC power info	(5) AC power cord

The 3.5" enclosure:

    Looking quite like its little brother, being aluminum, well, mostly. The blue parts are plastic. This 3.5" unit is larger than the 2.5" unit. Duh! Picture 8 is the buttons that you will use in conjunction with backing up, or restoring your data. They are, restore, total backup, and selective backup.

(7) Top	(8) Close up of buttons

Enclosure overview and how to take apart:

    The first two pictures and captions are pretty self-explanatory, so I'll jump to picture 11. Pushing two plastic tabs allows you to remove the front of the enclosure.

(9) Back	(10) Side	(11) Pulling of front

    The front plastic of the unit holds on the bottom aluminum plate, if you will... Hey, look? There is already a Hard Drive in there. Coolmax was kind enough to include a Hard Drive for testing purposes. The 3.5" unit does not come with a Hard Drive. You supply your own. And will have to fdisk it, and format it though if that isn't done previously. Once again, the manual covers that procedure for 9x and NT based OS's. (W2k and XP) To close this section, I'd like to point your attention to the Hard Drive. At picture time, I couldn't pull the hard drive out of the enclosure. The Molex connector was stuck, as I'm sure some of you techs or upgraders have grown to love. (Mumbling explicatives, busting up your fingers and knuckles trying to pull out a Molex.) So, After I managed to get the Molex out one night, with pliers, I hesitated to push it in all the way again.

(12) Bottom opened	(13) The 20 gig HD (Not Included in units)

Software:

    Just a quick little rant before going on to the next page, which will be mostly a copy and paste from my 2.5" review... So anyway, this unit will not plug and play for me on Windows XP Pro. It seems to use some kind of controller that didn't have built in drivers at the time of XP being pressed. No, the driver isn't digitally signed by Microsoft, and I know for a fact, to get one digitally signed, you have to jump through lots of hoops. Flaming hoops really. So not really an issue to me. Below is what you see when you go to remove your enclosure. Yes, you should stop the device before you just yank out the USB cable, or power the unit down. This stops data loss that can occur if you don't.

(s1) Safely remove

    Continuing on, a closer look at the software. Page two will be duplicated from the 2.5" review, since the software wasn't updated yet. So if you've ignored the links, no worries. :)


 

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