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FirmTek miniSwap/U3 Reviews
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Super Fast USB 3.0 Portable Drive Enclosure -
“The FirmTek miniSwap U3 enclosure, for all it's robustness and performance is astonishingly cheap. Just $99.95 without a drive installed. The enclosure takes up very little room on your desktop - or in your bag. We'd be happy to carry it around with a MacBook.” Awarded MacWorld Editor's Choice Award - June 2013. 
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WHAT's UNIQUE ABOUT THE MINISWAP/U3? “IT'S FAST - The FirmTek miniSwap/U3 is the fastest USB 3.0 device we have tested to date. For that matter it's the fastest bus powered storage device we've tested to date regardless of the interface type.” |
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Test Case USB 3.0 FirmTek MiniSwap/U3 “One other consideration to take into account is the price. Less than 100 euros it is much cheaper than any other solution, the Thunderbolt cable is already a third of the price. The second course is to link its performance to suit all SSDs and actually give backup solutions or high-speed storage. The third is the ease of replacing the internal hard disk that can make a handy dock, almost SyQuest with hard drives as a cartridge. The fourth is related to the universality of this disc. It will also work, albeit with very diminished performance on any machine with a USB 2.0 port.” |
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WHICH IS FASTER? Thunderbolt Bus Powered 2.5" or USB 3.0 Bus Powered 2.5" Storage? “SO WHO WINS? Turns out that the newest, latest USB 3.0 bus powered notebook storage devices are as fast or faster than their Thunderbolt counterparts“.... “The FirmTek miniSwap/U3 offers the most overall speed and the most versatility (all thicknesses of 2.5" drive fit -- pick your 'poison,' no screws required). Plus it attains its blazing speed via bus power. Two miniSwaps can be stacked and striped to create a bus powered RAID set with the multiple USB 3.0 ports on the 2012 - 2013 Macs. ” |
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MacWorld USA MiniSwap/U3 review: FirmTek's drive enclosure an impressive speedster “We also tested the miniSwap/U3 with a newer SanDisk Exteme II SSD that we had in the lab and saw even better performance. The 10GB file read and write speeds hit about 450 MBps“.... “Bottom line - If you have multiple clients, projects that require their own drives, the FirmTek miniSwap/U3 makes it easy and economical to attach and mount drives to your Mac via speedy USB 3.” |
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FirmTek miniSwap U3: the HDD USB3 ultrafast “The FirmTek miniSwap U3 approaching maximum performance with an average of 430MB/s for reading and writing, which makes it a great case for those who do photo editing with software like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture or are in the video editing with Final Cut Pro . In so far as the FirmTek is bootable, you can even install your OS of choice and fulfill your daily tasks! ” |
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In-and-Out External Storage “Need to use a different 2.5" external drive? Piece of cake, the MiniSwap/U3 is hot swappable. This means that, without powering down the computer, you can just open the enclosure's door, physically pull out the previously installed drive, insert another one, close the door, and now the other drive is accessible. Hot swapping external drives could be a compelling convenience for users whose computer has limited internal storage upgradability (e.g., the most recent iMacs, Mac Pro, and MacBook Pros) and users with external RAID backup needs.” |
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miniSwap/U3: All I can say is WOW! “I ordered your miniSwap/U3 a few days ago...and it got here today! All I can say is WOW! I talked to someone in the office..and I knew this would be good, but not this good! I put in a 1 TB SSD. 1 TB! Without the power adapter, USB 3.0..and not only did it work, but on the Blackmagic speedtest, I got read write around 420! 420! That blows away any other USB 3.0 device I've tried..and most can't even handle 512 hard drive! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Amazing product...and now you can tell everyone who calls...the Samsung Evo 1 TB drive, plays without power on a New MacAir...and it plays VERY well! - Joe ” |