AMS (American Media Systems) AMS VENUS DS3 Aluminum Black 3.5 USB2.0 External Enclosure Model DS2316B2BK

MPN: DS2316B2BK

Description: The DS-2316B2BK is an attractive Black 3.5" Aluminum External Enclosure. It has a USB2.0 interface, supports 3.5" IDE ATA 100/133 HDD(USB2.0).

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sperkin from NC

Member Since
Oct 2005

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User has 4 Days of experience with this product

Great design, quality manufacturing

Strengths:

1) Easy removal of the hard drive. 2) The ducted fan is quiet and efficient. 3) Good power switch, small and clean. 4) Nice LED for power and activity. 5) Great power cord; In-line wart.

Weaknesses:

1) Short Type B USB cable.

Posted Oct 24, 2005 - I purchased the AMS Venus DS3 because of the great reviews that it has received. There are still several things I was happily surprised by. The stock picture of the unit makes it out to look bigger and bulkier than it is. It's a bit more petite than I expected. The Plastic on the ends looks better in person and is more of a smoke color than black. The power switch is great, and provides good feedback. The power plug stays put. I'm a little against USB type b plugs, but it does not wiggle loose as well. The insides are great. The fan is a ducted fan, it's really more of a blower, it's very low profile and adds little to the height. The Plastic base is plastic, and as such reduces the cooling power of the aluminum case, however I think the noise reducing aspect of having the hard drive mounted to plastic instead of aluminum is worth it. The power plug for the hard drive is adjustable. It can be slid and moved to accept different brands of hard drives. I would have liked more feedback when I plugged the hard drive into both the power socket and the EIDE socket. I would have liked a click or snap, but I didn't get one. I had to visually verify that the drive was plugged in. The unit will stand vertically, although without rubber feet I wouldn't recommend it. Sadly the USB cable is shorter than I would expect. The power cable is nice and long and has the AC to DC adapter in the middle of the line and not at the socket. The LED is great, solid green when on and blinking red when active. It was easy to install, and USB drivers were included as well as good documentation. The unit is very quiet. I'm pleased.

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browniecharl... from CA

Member Since
Sep 2004

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User has 10 Days of experience with this product

One of the BEST HD Enclosures Available

Strengths:

1. Easy to install, set up and use. 2. Well designed and built to last and most importantly, work. 3. Looks sleek and sharp

Weaknesses:

More expensive than most other enclosures. But in this case, you get what you pay for.

Posted Mar 16, 2006 - What's the predominant killer of hard drives? Heat. Whether you intend on using your enclosure HD for occasional backing up and file storage/archiving or as a 2nd or 3rd permanent hard drive -- then this HD enclosure is worth the higher cost. Why try to be frugal and save 10-20 bucks on an inferior enclosure made out of cheap plastic or poor air circulation/ventilation design and gamble on losing your saved data to a hard drive crash? Why not pay the price now and get a rock solid enclsorue and have a worry free enclosure that will protect your hard drive from overheating. Why is an aluminum casing and fan more advantageous than some cheap plastic hd enclsoure that costs less? Well, read a physics book about heat/thermodynamics and you should come to the conclusion that you want to faciliate heat dissipation as much as possible away from the hard drive itself. There are other high quality enclosures out there, but whatever you choose, don't let price be your primary decision making factor. Go for a good hd enclosure, regardless of the few dollars difference in price.

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vinod_344 from OH

Member Since
Aug 2005

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User has 7 Days of experience with this product

Small, Silent, Nice Design, Fan at bottom!!

Strengths:

Nice design, Fan located below hard drive not at the rear Less volume and easy to handle

Weaknesses:

none

Posted Aug 29, 2005 - It is very small even it has fan in it. Other drive which have fan are rear end fans which adds up length the enclosure. This drive has fan at the bottom which is more effective and easy to handle. It is very silent and temperature remains cool. Little costly but worth buying!!

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sonyyy from NC

Member Since
Sep 2005

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User has 5 Days of experience with this product

Great product. Will recommend it to everyone

Strengths:

Aluminum case, slient, easy to install

Weaknesses:

looks pretty ugly...

Posted Dec 16, 2005 - I have been using this external enclosure for about 1 week now and it has been working great. It's very easy to install, although you definitely need a screwdriver to put your harddrive in it. But after that, it works like a charm. I am using a Seagate 300GB drive, took me less than 5 mins from the time I receive the package till I run my backup program on the harddrive. That is how easy it is. Also, it much quieter than my previous bytecc plastic one. I'm using it on a USB hub, so it works for that too. The only thing is still black, and bulky, kind of ugly, but I'm a guy, who cares~

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pgber from CA

Member Since
Sep 2005

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User has 3 Days of experience with this product

Solid, quality product

Strengths:

works with all 3 of my computers (xp pro home, linux)

Weaknesses:

pricey

Posted Sep 21, 2005 - I research high and low after being burnt buying a cheapo usb adapter ($17). That's piece of junk it won't recognize my drive on 2 of my computers. Finally I gave in and bought a quality product instead. Although it's pricey I'm very satisfied with it. It's quiet and works well. There's a power switch (a bit small) that you can turn it off when not used. Highly recommended

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mem2002 from NY

Member Since
Aug 2005

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User has 1 Days of experience with this product

Great Enclosure!

Strengths:

Good quality, sturdy; easy to install drive; keeps drive cool (aluminum housing + large fan); looks sharp

Weaknesses:

None really. Very minor: USB connector on back of unit is a little wobbly

Posted Apr 7, 2006 - This unit looks sharp. It is of good construction. The aluminum shell is very sturdy, and has an attractive black matte finish to it. The drive installs easily. The unit has a removable acrylic tray which pulls out of the aluminum housing. The drive mounts directly onto the tray with no cables necessary; you simply mate it with the connectors integrated into the unit's circuit board. Four screws are provided to secure the drive to the tray. Slide the tray back into the aluminum housing, tighten two screws in the back to secure the tray to the housing, and you're good to go. The top surface of the disk drive fits snugly against the aluminum housing, allowing for heat dissipation from that area. Underneath, additional cooling is provided by the 8 cm fan. The external power supply cord plugs snugly into its socket on the back of the unit. The USB cable seems a little wobbly in its socket, but not enough to be of real concern. The bottom of the unit has four small rubber pads, which keep it firmly anchored to the surface on which it rests. The front panel has an activity light which is clear to see but not obtrusive. The fan operates quietly. I had no problems with Windows XP Pro recognizing the unit. Folders on the drive open instantaneously in Windows Explorer when I click on them (Seagate 7200 rpm 160GB IDE drive). It's not really designed to rest upright on its side; there are no rubber pads to keep it from sliding around on the acrylic collars that shield the front and back of the unit (although otherwise this could be done). Overall, at this point, I am very pleased with my purchase. I would definitely recommend it to others.

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mavx14 from NY

Member Since
Feb 2005

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User has 1 Day of experience with this product

Awesome enclosure

Strengths:

Excellent 80mm fan, sturdy case. Small power supply.

Weaknesses:

One screw is too small

Posted Apr 1, 2006 - This case can be said to be as perfect. Its a nicely sized yet solid enclosure for a 3.5" hdd. One of the unique features of this enclosure is that the hard drive is installed on a tray that slides into the case, which explains why it is so sturdy. On this tray, there is an 80mm fan underneath the hdd, which provides excellent cooling. The supplied power supply is nice and small yet long enough. The usb cable may be a bit too short for some, but its perfect for me. (I'd say about 2-3 feet). Since the hard drive is installed onto a tray, which means there are no moving parts, the power connector must have the option of being adjusted to various positions to allow for all types of hard drives to be installed. (Eg, a hitachi hdd may have the power adapter flushed to the far right, while a seagate may have it a little less from the side) AMS uses a screw to allow you to adjust the position of the connector. Unfortuantely, they decided to use a really small screw to do this. Not everyone may have such a small screwdriver on hand to do this adjustment. Still, this is a minor issue and there is no other enclosure that is better.

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bluejeff from TX

Member Since
Nov 2005

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User has 9 Months of experience with this product

Great External Case

Strengths:

1. Inexpensive 2. Easy to use 3. Reliable 4. Fast 5. Great cooling

Weaknesses:

1. If it's the firewire version, it will be even better 2. If you don't screw the HD tight, it might be a little loose.

Posted Nov 29, 2005 - I have been using this drive for more than 6 months, and I must say I am really satisfied with this external enclosure. I am using this case as the bridge between my computer and with my WD 120GB and Maxtor 100GB hard drives. It's very easy to use, just open it and put the hard drive in, and there you go, it will start working. There is no driver needed if you have Mac OSX 10.4+ or Windows XP Pro, which I happen to have both and they both work flawlessly. Speedwise, it's been pretty fast (although no comparison to firewire), and so far, I am pretty satisfied with my purchase.

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moojos from VA

Member Since
Jun 2002

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User has 1 Months of experience with this product

Good at first

Strengths:

Internal fan

Weaknesses:

Doesn't last very long

Posted Jun 28, 2007 - I bought two of these and they both ended up in the trash. For some reason, they just stop working for no reason. Then I take the hard drive out and it works just fine. Neither of them lasted more than a month with occasional use. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have money to waste.

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vv234

Member Since
Feb 2006

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User has 2 Days of experience with this product

nice

Strengths:

easy to install, very quiet and cool.

Weaknesses:

bit pricey

Posted Mar 21, 2006 - Just received the enclosure a few weeks ago and so far I am happy with it. It's not hard to install and it even provide the screws for holding the hd to the enclosure.

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charliebier

Member Since
Jan 2006

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User has 1 Week of experience with this product

AMS (American Media Systems) AMS VENUS DS3 Aluminum Black 3.5 USB2.0 External Enclosure Model DS2316B2BK

Strengths:

Substantial box, plug and play w/ XP, quiet, excellent documentation

Weaknesses:

none

Posted Feb 9, 2006 - Recommended to all, tried 2 different HD's, assembly of both in unit (one at a time) was very easy, plug it in and go, documentation clear and easy to understand. Extremely quiet, fast backup of main HD.

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menikmati from CA

Member Since
Aug 2005

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Great Enclosure for Any HDD

Strengths:

Sleek design, fan works very well at HDD cooling. Smooth interatction with Windows XP system when connected, no drivers are required.

Weaknesses:

Short USB cable.

Posted Dec 15, 2005 - Have been using this enclosure for my new Seagate 120GB hard drive for a couple of days now. Firs thing that caught my eye was how sleek and elegant the actual enclosure is. A nice black colour and a very simple hard drive rack where you plug it into. The installtion of the hard drive was smooth and flawless and plugging it into my Windows XP computer, was noticed instantly and was able to access it without needing to download additional drivers. The fan is also quiet enough so that I do not hear it over my Thermaltake Smart Fans and it does a decent job of keeping the hard drive cool, even though the case can be a little warm to the touch after long hours of use. I hope to buy more enclosures for future hard drives, I will also purchase another enclosure soon to house my extra Western Digital hard drives that I will be purchasing for the holidays.

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