Performance

To test the performance of the Mapower KC31 a Western Digital Caviar SE 160 GB drive was used. Performance was measured with HDTach 3.0.4.0.

USB 2.0

Testing the enclosure using the USB interface we find that it was able to maintain an average read speed of 34.7 MB/s along with CPU utilization at 6% placing it in a very competitive position with the other enclosures tested at Techpowerup in the past.

eSATA

Testing the enclosure using the eSATA interface we find that the performance increased as expected. The enclosure maintained an average read speed of 64.0 MB/s along with CPU utilization at 2%. Performance is very competitive to the competition. I ran these benchmarks several times and all of the results were repeatable. This is good news for reliability and consistent performance.

Also while testing the enclosure the maximum temperature reported was 47° Celsius. This was in an environment with an ambient temperature of 22 degrees Celsius +/- one degree over a 3 hour period. This may be high for some users' tastes. However, this is a compromise in order to achieve silent operation. I will also note that the design for heat dissipation does work. I was able to feel more heat being released through the fins on the sides compared to the faces of the enclosure.