Package Content

The Spire GigaPod III External Drive Enclosure comes in three bundle versions and amongst those is the USB 2.0 enclosure which we have in our hands today. The Spire GigaPod III comes in a firm box which details on the front the strengths of this external drive enclosure.

• Aluminum Enclosure
• Silent Operation
• Compact Design
• Supports High Capacity HDD

On opening the Spire SP110-NEB box our eye falls immediately upon the aluminum grey enclosure with the Spire logo on top. The hard drive enclosure is packed with protective foam and comes secured in a plastic bag. Next to that also the remaining components are enclosed and can't move around.

So what is enclosed in the GigaPod III package from Spire? The retail box includes the aluminum case, a power supply, one USB cable, a CD with drivers, a manual, mounting screws and two installation rails. Each of these items is well protected and wrapped in a plastic bag.

	Spire GigaPod III SP110-NEB
Dimensions	200 x 107 x 30mm (l x w x h)
Package Includes	Aluminum enclosure, External power supply, USB cable, Installation manual, CD-Rom driver
OS Support	Windows 95/ME/XP, Mac OS8.6/OSX
Features	Harddrive support up to 400GB, USB easy plug and play installation, hot swapable, fanless operation
Interface	USB 2.0 for transfer speeds up to 480Mbit/sec (backwards compatible with USB 1.1)
Power Supply	External power adapter universal auto-switching Input: AC 100-240V, 50-60Hz Output: DC +12V/1.5A
Options	3.5" and 5.25" versions available with optional Firewire (IEEE1394) support

The above table clearly indicates that all Spire has put down a decent products to build your own external hard drive using the GigaPod III enclosure.

Taking a closer look on the GigaPod III package reveals that there are only two mounting screws available. That sounds like a bit to less for installing a hard drive in the enclosure. Well don't let this stumple you as Spire does know how much screws are needed. The manual is rather small but contains all the information to go ahead with the installation.

But before moving to the installation, we can't just go on without taking a closer look at the aluminum case that will host the hard drive. The aluminum case consists of three parts, the front plate, the actual aluminum housing and the back plate with the external connections such as the USB 2.0 port and power connection, and a power switch.