Introduction

From the manufacturer Thermaltake:

• All aluminum fanless design
• Silver body with graceful curve
• Screwless design easy to install 3.5 HDD without tools
• Deliver Meter with blue backlight to indicate digital signal.
• Cypress AT2+ chip - speed & protect your digital data
• IDE to USB2.0 interface - the most compatibility
• Compact mount easily to stand.
• Transfer speed up to 480Mbps

Packaging

The Thermaltake Muse comes in a package which does not follow the standard Thermaltake color-theme. I like the elegant white packaging of the Muse better.



Inside the package you will find:

• Aluminum case
• Aluminum stand
• USB cable 1m
• User's Manual & Driver CD
• Power supply with cable

Power for the harddisk is delivered by an external PSU. This is neccessary, because USB is specified to max. 500mA. However, integrating the PSU into the case should be no problem and would significantly reduce the cable mess.


On one side of the aluminum case are two connectors for power, USB and the power switch.


Opening the case is accomplished by pressing a small button on one side, then opening the top. Inside you will find some empty space for your 3.5" HDD and a small PCB which has a USB to ATA converter chip on-board. The cable is a standard IDE cable, if you lose or break the cable you can just use any regular HDD cable.


The converter chip comes from Cypress and is a CY7C68300A. It is USB 2.0 compatible with support for 480 Mbps high-speed transfers.


When the unit is powered on, the analog VU meter is lit up in a nice blue. The meter's needle moves with harddisk activity.


For mounting, Thermaltake has come up with a clever solution. The HDD just rests on the marked posts without any screws. Since the lid on top makes sure that the harddisk can not move, this is a safe method of installation, while still making it easy to remove the disk.

Installation

Installation of the internal harddisk is really easy and well documented in the included manual.

• Open case
• Connect HDD power
• Connect IDE cable
• Put HDD on mounting posts
• Close case

After that you connect power and USB to the unit and connect it to your computer. You do not have to turn off your machine for the cable installation.

A driver installation is only required on Windows 9x. Windows 2000 and up automatically install the drive as a harddisk, without any reboot.