Macally Mobile Wi-Fi Hard Drive Enclosure for Wireless Storage (WIFIHDD)

Bought it with the hopes I found a good portable movie box for my digital media collection. It worked PERFECTLY for a week. then, without warning. stoped. there is ZERO support for this or the app. do not buy, look at the Western Digital counter part

WiFi works great has long batter life, It even seems to have power saving settings where the drive will spin down to conserve battery life. It can take a few seconds to spin back up to speed, But hasn't been an issue. I wish I had read the part about not being able to open the device again after installing the hard drive, As i put a small capacity drive in it I had laying around with the thought of adding a larger SSD in the future as prices dropped. Had I known I would have modified the case so it would have opened easily. When you snap this thing shut it is beyond tight. You may be able to open it with a spudger, But i doubt even with the right tools it won't be damaged. I have never seen anything this tight before and I'm the kind of guy you takes everything he owns apart.

I had three bits of disappointment with this enclosure. I give the enclosure four stars because it does work the way it is supposed to per their documentation. I can't give it five stars without some improvements.The first disappointment was expected based on other reviews. The enclosure is not made to be reopened. However, the first enclosure I received would not charge. After talking to Macally Technical and Customer support I returned the enclosure and received a new one, which works perfectly. But most important, since I wanted to remove my drive before returning the enclosure, I found that if you are careful you can open the enclosure without breaking it! I wouldn't do it more than once, though.The second bit of disappointment isn't Macally's fault. My iTunes library is almost 1TB and I had considered using this enclosure with a 1TB drive as my iTunes drive. That idea works OK with my Macbook Pro, but it won't work with my iPhone or iPad because of the way iTunes stores files on the i-devices. So instead I have two folders on this drive. One contains my favorite MP3s and the other movies that do not have DRM. This format works with the i-devices using the Macally iOS app. I don't store documents on this drive because I find that the cloud (I use a few but primarily Dropbox) works for that purpose.The last bit of disappointment is the ethernet port. It would be nice if this port had some real use. However, it serves one purpose and that is to use the enclosure as a Wifi hot spot. You connect the ethernet port to whatever Internet access you have, say in your hotel room when traveling, and you now have a hotspot. Since I already use my iPhone as a hot spot when I travel, primarily to avoid the ridiculous rates hotels charge, I don't see the purpose. But my disappointment is that an ethernet connection should be faster than the USB 3.0 one for transferring files. However, the ethernet port can't be used for transferring files. The drive does not operate as a NAS drive while connected this way. This isn't really surprising considering the price.One comment on the provided Mac app. When I first installed the app on my Macbook Pro, the app would not connect to the drive. After some major frustration I discovered the problem (not documented) was that my Macbook Pro was ethernet attached to my home network, and I could not have both that connection and the Macally drive connected via WiFi at the same time. Disconnecting the ethernet cable from my laptop solved this problem. Since I use the drive for my i-devices this isn't a problem for me. The app is used to customize the drives WiFi settings and that is all I have used it for.

I am using this enclosure for the 2nd hard drive on my soon-to-be-gone Dell laptop. Installation is a snap (after I remembered that there was an adapter on my HDD that needed to be removed so that it would fit this enclosure). Since my HDD was already formatted, I could skip that step, and was accessing my data in no time.Be sure to read the instructions first - this enclosure cannot be re-opened for re-use. I had planned to later upgrade to a larger drive, but will have to buy another enclosure, if I do. This should be in the description!Further, I have not, yet, tested the WiFi capability - this cannot be attached to your PC if you wish to use it wirelessly, and you must install OS-specific software on each device that needs access. This should also be in the description!As I am moving from an old laptop to a new ultrabook, I had planned that this would be my second drive on the UB, and that I could also access it, wirelessly, from my Android tablet and phone. To charge it, the included USB cable must be plugged into a wall adapter (not included), or one's PC. Currently, it's plugged into my UB, both for charging and for data transfer management.At this point, I'm thinking that I could plug this unit into the wall, then access it wirelessly from my UB and Android devices??? However, I'd planned it to be primarily accessed by the UB, so would prefer the fast transfer through USB 3.0.I'm no networking wizard but, since this unit does have an Ethernet port, I'm assuming I can also connect it to my router, for access by all 3 devices. However, the wireless feature is then not needed....I guess if I were the type to take my data (HDD) with me, this would prove to be more useful - setting up ad hoc data sharing, wirelessly. In hindsight, it was *I* who did not think this through - I should have bought a basic enclosure, and continued accessing data through Android's ES File Explorer, or Splashtop, or any of the similar other apps available.The USB cable is far too short, but that's not limited to this unit - too many devices nowadays come with too-short cables. I use my UB on a desk-mounted arm support, so I need enough cable to prevent my constantly pulling devices off the desk when I adjust the support arm. The included cable has the new-fangled 2-part USB male connector, so now I will have to search for a replacement, as none of my current longer cables will work.To end on a positive note, this enclosure is very well made. The screws to attach the HDD have silicone collars, to further protect the HDD, and the case is very solid. It appears that it will serve me for many years.

Only connects to one device, too many issues like dropping link, WiFi weak signals etc

I love this item. Only owned it a few days now but I am pleased with the functionality of the device. Not only does it act as a remote drive for sd cards and usb flash drives but you can also use it to charge your phone. Battery life so far seems good. I use a web browser to access the configuration pages for the device so you do not have to install software. The device has a samba server so you can connect directly to the device using windows, mac osx and android. Haven't tried yet with the iphone. Highly recommend this device. Is not slow either.

I had a 500 GB drive installed, wifi configured, including internet access point, and streaming movies in an hour. Plugged into a USB lighter adapter in the car, it's perfect for streaming my sons movies to his tablet on long road trips.Brilliant little device.

Very easy to work with. I was thinking my hard drive should be dead, the new enclosure made my hard drive live again.