Enermax Ultrabox EB311SC Storage Docking Station Review

Docking stations are one of the most plentiful storage solutions on the market. With nearly every vendor having such a solution, we have seen a shift from standard single or two bay solutions to docks that now have additional features such as cloning capabilities, and now with the latest from Enermax, charging capabilities for our smart devices.

The Enermax EB311SC is a two-bay dock solution coming from the Ultrabox line-up of solutions. This storage device features both 2.5" and 3.5" compatibility along with USB 3.0 connectivity. Additional features include a one button clone function allowing quick duplication of a your drives without the need for a PC. As I stated in the introduction, this dock also enables users to charge their smart devices via two super charge ports located on the back. PC compatibility starts with Windows 7, 8 and 10 and includes Mac OS 9+.

MSRP of the Enermax Ultrabox EB311SC is listed at $64.99 with a one-year warranty.

Packaging for the Ultrabox carries an image of the dock on the front with marketing information down below.

Scope of delivery includes the dock, power cable, and USB 3.0 cable.

The front of the docking station is quite busy. Looking above, we have indicators for both slots, along with the clone button and accompanying progress indicator.

The backside houses the power button on the far left, with the DC input and USB 3.0 port next to it. The super charge ports are located to the far right and can handle a maximum of 2.4A, which is pretty good.

Above we can see that each drive slot has capabilities for both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. The drive eject buttons are located above.

To test the Enermax Ultrabox, we installed our Intel SSD 730 and ran it through a few passes of CrystalDiskMark. Sequential read came in at 390 MB/s, followed up by 275 MB/s for write. Large block random came in at 321 MB/s for read and 368 MB/s write, while 4K results were similar with and without QD.

In using the Ultrabox myself for the last few weeks, I can say that it's as solid as docking stations can come. The build quality is really superb, but what really enhances this unit are all the features. Like most docking stations on the market today, the Ultrabox comes in a dual slot configuration that accepts any hard drive you may have minus the old IDE solutions you probably still have in the closet.

Adding to this, you can clone from one drive to the other without the need for a PC, and if I am honest, we have seen this feature on only one other docking station. Adding to that while you are transferring data through your docking station or whenever you want really, you can charge up your smartphone or tablet through the rear mounted super charge ports.

With the above said, the performance of the Ultrabox was really quite surprising. I have seen many of these two a lot docks come through the lab and they never seem to carry top end performance, but remarkably the Enermax does. In sequentials, we reached 390 MB/s read and 275 MB/s write, while randoms moved along quite well at 29 MB/s read and 65 MB/s write at QD32.

Overall, for those in the market for a docking solution, the Enermax Ultrabox may be the current best available solution with all of the unique features.