The next enclosure we have to look at is from Eagle Tech's "M" series. This particular model is the ET-CSMESU2-BK which supports SATA hard drives only. No big deal right? By now we've seen hundreds of enclosures that support SATA hard drives. Well, this one has a pretty unique quality as well.....

     With its revolutionary design, installing or even swapping drives in this enclosure is quick and easy. Just like the picture above shows, you unlock the top using the provided tool (or a paper clip if you forgot the tool at home), then, flip the top open and slide the drive out of the enclosure.

     Other than the flip-top lid, the body of the enclosure is one solid piece. The above picture is an image looking straight into the bottom. Granted, there are 4 small screws on the back that you could remove to gain access to the internal electronics, but that is not the way this enclosure was designed. If you look at the bottom right, you can see the area where a SATA hard drive will interface. The enclosure has moldings for both the power and data connectors. There is a small tang on the side track that is used to hold and will act as the lever when it comes time to remove a drive from the enclosure.

     So pretty much, all you need to do is treat this door with a little tender loving care. While its construction feels quite solid, you have to remember that the tang that is the supporting the drive directly is attached to this door. So any rough housing of this door will be transferred directly to the hard drive within.

     Here are all of the accessories you'll get with this M series enclosure.  The Installation CD is more of a resource CD that is generic to both the T and M series and includes an Adobe Acrobat version of the printed user manual. The AC power adapter is just like the one we saw with the T series which the cords permanently attached. Since the M series is eSATA capable, Eagle Tech provides an eSATA cord. There is also a rubber based stand so you can set the enclosure in a more upright position. While there are two screws included, I have absolutely no idea what they are for. The manual makes NO mention of them at any point, and of course they aren't needed for hard drive installation.

     As far as aesthetics go, the enclosure's outside is built out of a rugged aluminum with a textured top and a solid bottom. The only light on the unit is on the back and is a dedicated power light. Likewise, there is no drive access or in use light on the enclosure.

     The interface panel of the M series is as straight forward as any other enclosure. Everything is well marked even though all of the connections are industry standard so you can't get them mixed up. While I do like larger rocker type power switches better, I found this slider toggle switch to be just as easy to reach and manipulate.

     When using the USB port, our transfer speeds are of course limited.....

     But when we use the eSATA port, we can tap into the real performance potential of the hard drive. Our burst transfer speed was recorded at 149.2 megabytes/second and our average read speed was clocked at 71.3 megabytes/second.