ADS LL5-DLX-185 Dual Link Drive Kit


 

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Review: ADS LL5-DLX-185
Reviewer: Wesley Novack
Provided by: ADS Tech

ADS Tech recently provided us with an evaluation unit of their LL5-DLX-185 Dual-Link Drive Kit. This external enclosure supports 3.5" ATA hard-drives and 5.25" optical disc drives. It also offers multiple connectivity options including USB 1.0, USB 2.0 and Firewire interfaces. This Kit is built with the Oxford OXFW911 bridge. We looked at a few retailers as well as the product packaging to see what ADS is advertising with this product.

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The main advertised features include;

  • Add extra storage to your computer without opening your computer case
  • Perfect for adding a CD-R or DVD drive without using an extra drive bay
  • Easily share one drive between multiple workstations '“ plug & play and hot swappable
  • Works with both USB 2.0, USB 1.0 and Firewire compatible computers; able to daisy chain with other Firewire Devices
  • Transfer rates up to 480 Mbits/sec for USB 2.0 and 400 Mbits/sec for Firewire.

ADS Tech history and information:

We found the following information on the ADS Tech website;

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ADS Technologies ( www.adstech.com ) is a world leader in Universal Serial Bus and IEEE-1394/Firewire solutions for the personal computer. Since the company's inception in 1992, the cornerstone of the company's success has been to introduce niche or high-end technologies to the consumer marketplace with quality devices sold at a reasonable cost.

Over the years, ADS Technologies, Inc. has brought a wide range of products to market including VGA-to-TV scan converters, video capture and TV Tuner cards, which enabled ADS Technologies to sustain steady growth and sales during the mid-1990's. This company experienced dramatic growth in the later part of the 1990's with the expansion into the external bus industry, namely USB and IEEE-1394/Firewire.

Since the introducing of the USB Port for Desktops in 1998, ADS Technologies has contributed to the successful adoption of the USB standard among the 150 million legacy personal computer owners. Currently boasting seven complementary peripherals in its award-winning USB product line, the USB Port for Desktops has become the world's best selling USB PCI host card.

Nineteen-ninety nine marked one of the company's most successful years to date with the introduction of the PYRO 1394/Firewire product line and continued popularity of its USB products. PYRO 1394DV, the first consumer-priced digital video editing solution in the PC marketplace, was designed in anticipation of the increasing popularity of digital video camcorders. As prices of DV camcorders dropped, consumers quickly adopted PYRO 1394DV, which offered ease-of-use for first time DV editors, functionality and low cost.

The year 2000 marked the year of Firewire. By the third quarter, nine new PYRO products were announced making the brand name 'PYRO" synonymous with Firewire for the PC and Macintosh.

Design & Manufacturing

ADS products are designed by our hardware and software development staff in the headquarter offices in Cerritos, CA. Products are manufactured and assembled by contract manufacturers in San Jose, CA and Taiwan in ISO 9002 approved facilities.

Sales and Distribution

ADS products are distributed by Ingram Micro and Tech Data in the United States, Canada and Europe. ADS products are available in nearly 3,000 consumer electronic and computer retail stores including CompUSA, Circuit City, Micro Center, Fry's Electronics, Electronics Boutique, Data Vision, IBM Home Computing, Radio Shack stores and hundreds of others. 

ADS also has several OEM private label customers around the world who market ADS products under their own brand name.

ADS products are distributed in the UK, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Scandinavian countries, Israel and Japan.

Specifications:


Key Features

Add Multi-Gig Storage To Your PC or MAC
Instantly Enhance almost any IDE Hard Drive; ATA-100, ATA-133, or ATA -6 Drive
Convert your DVD, or CD Drive to Firewire or USB 2.0
Supports Drives Up To 250 GB
Convert Your Internal Hard Drive to USB 2.0 or Firewire
Super Fast & Reliable external storage
Make your DVD-Recordable Drive Portable
Intech's SPEEDTOOLS UTILITIES for MAC OS 9.X and OS X
Plug in the drive & it mounts automatically. Adding a drive is fast & easy!
Hot Swappable - Real Plug & Play for your External Drives
 Includes Pop-Out front bezel to cover a hard drive, or remove for CD Drive installation
 Supports sustained data transfer rates up to 35 MB/Sec.
 Power Supply - Supplies both 5 Volt and 12 Volts to your drive.
 Silent Ball bearing fan to keep your drive cool and running smooth.
 Micro-Slot security protection.  Keep your drive from walking away.
 Compatible with Anchor Pad and Kensington Micro-Slot Locks.
 Lighted rear power toggle switch
 Hard Drive activity light

 PYRO1394/Firewire key features
Converts drives to External Firewire Drive; Support for IDE Hard  drives (UDMA 33/66 or  ATA100/133), CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM,
or DVD-R/DVD+RW
Stackable and Daisy-Chainable
Provides (2) Two 400 Mbits/sec ports 
Connect one port to Host computer
Use second port for daisy chain to a second drive, your Digital Camcorder, Scanner or PYRO Web Cam


Supports:
ATA-100*, ATA 133* and ATA 6* Drives
Up to 250 GB drives
ATA '“ 3.5" and 5.25" IDE, Ultra DMA/33 or 66 Hard Disk drives
ATAPI - CD-ROM/CD-RW, DVD, DVD-RAM
(* ATA-100, 133, 6 drives will not run at respective speeds)

Includes
:
 Dual - Link Drive Kit Enclosure
 6' USB 2.0 cable
 6' Firewire cable
 Flat ribbon cable (ATA-100)
 Screw kit for installing hard drive or CD drives
 Removable bezel cover for hard drive installations
 External Power Supply
 CD Includes: Drivers, SpeedTools Utilities for Mac from INTECH Software

General Specifications:
Enclosure Size:  6.75" (W) x 2.3" (H) x 9.25" (L)
Power Supply: Switching power supply
Power Input: 110-240 50/60 Hz
Cooling Fan: Ball Bearing Fan w/ dual fan guards
Safety: UL, CUL, FCC Class B, CE
Product Part Numbers and Descriptions: DLX-185/ UPC 7-57887-18500-8  


What's inside the box?


Now we will take a look at what the Drive Kit came shipped with as well as the hardware itself.

Here we can see the front of the product box, which also contains the details that we listed above as 'the main advertised features'. Note that the box also advertises 'CD / DVD Burner" as well as 'Hard Disk Drive", both of which we will test later in this review.

Back of the box.

Left side of the box.

Right side of the box.

Let us take a closer look at the contents of the box:

Box contents.

The retail bundle contains the following items:

  • Dual '“ Link Drive Kit Enclosure
  • 6' USB 2.0 cable
  • 6' Firewire cable
  • Flat ribbon cable (ATA-100)
  • Screw kit
  • Removable bezel cover for hard drive installations
  • Power cable
  • CD-ROM with Windows 98 drivers and Mac software
  • Installation Manual
  • Product Registration guide

The bundle seems to include everything needed for an enclosure, including all of the necessary cables. The installation manual provides easy to follow assembly instructions.

Now it's time to take a look at the enclosure itself.

Here we have an image of the bottom of the Drive Kit. We can see that the unit was made in China. The rubber feet help to prevent the Kit from sliding around on a smooth surface.

Top of the enclosure with ADS logo.

Front of the enclosure with hard drive bezel attached. An LED can be found in the bottom right corner, which communicates hard drive activity (if the appropriate cable is connected). This rectangular bezel is removed when a CD / DVD drive is installed.

Rear of the enclosure. Starting from the left we have the power plug connection, underneath is the light-up power switch, to the right of that is the fan vent, two IEEE1394 Firewire ports, 1 USB 2.0 port and 1 Micro Slot. For graphics we have the ADS logo, a Firewire logo, and a hi-speed USB logo.

We found it very easy to take apart the drive kit and install a DVD Writer or a hard drive.

Included Software:


The included CD-ROM contains Windows 98 SE drivers and also some utilities for the Mac OS.  Users running on Windows XP don't need to bother with the CD at all.

Test machine:


For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:


Hard disks: Maxtor 6Y080P0 80GB and Western Digital WD1600JB-00EVA0 160GB.
Firewire card: Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller.
USB 2.0: Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller.

Windows XP Professional SP1 is installed on this computer.
We will be using the following software in this review:


         Nero CD-DVD Speed v3.61
         HD Tach 3.0.1.0

Head on over to the next page to read about our CD / DVD tests with this enclosure…


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