Is the USB 3.0 enclosure I bought actually USB 3.0 or is this fraud?

Hi all, been a while but i just recently bought an enclosure here in europe where im living for now (originally from US) and was wondering if its actually USB 3.0.

2 reasons why i ask:

- they claim on their website that the cable and the enclosure are usb 3.0 capable, but the cable that is included is a mini-B usb(into the drive) to type A usb cable!! Correct me if Im wrong but doesnt usb 3.0 only currently have three different types of cables at the moment, in which none look like previous USB 2 cables (the one i have looks like this Amazon.com: Cables To Go 27005 USB 2.0 A to Mini-B Cable, Black (2 Meter/6.56 Feet): Electronics) WOULD A USB 3 CABLE LOOK LIKE THIS??

-And two, the speeds im getting are worthless, its worth noting that the speed when connected to USB 3 socket on my Asus laptop gives the transfer rate maybe 5-10 added mb/s quicker than on my usb 2 slots but as far as getting advertised usb 3.0 speeds, not even close. which is another reason why im skeptical.

Here is the technical link to the product and its two brother products which are identical but differ in connectivity (one is usb3, one is usb2, and one usb2/eSata) http://www.maxinpower.com/media/fiche-technique/Boitier-externe-2-5-BEM25C6U3CA.pdf the one they display the image showing its ports is not the one i have, mine only has a mini usb port on the back which isnt shown.

Thanks in advance for any help, im just hoping to get this cleared cause i wanted to know if im getting jipped from this company, did I? because i think i did and this is indeed a case of false advertising...

 

It's a stupid and simple way to tell if it is USB3 - if the connector that goes to the computer is blue (inside, where the pins are), you've got a USB3 cable.

If you have a USB3 connection to test it on, which you do, then you should be getting speeds (depending on the HDD itself) of 100+mb/s for benchmarks, and at least 60mb/s+ for random large file transfers. Sounds like yours failed this pretty badly.

Mini-usb and micro-usb 3 cables do exist, though they're mostly proprietary in nature (ie, the WD mybook I just got uses a funky mini-usb, but it's still USB3).

 

Does the model number on the encloser match that of the USB3 version from the pdf?
BEM25C6U3CA

 

This the link to all new egg 2.5" USB 3.0 enclosures: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,External Enclosures,2.5",USB 3.0 you can look at the pictures of the ports and they look nothing like USB 2.0 ports. I think they might have made a mistake and sent you the wrong model.

 

@hakira, my cable is blue inside yes, but only on one end, which is my point. I am gettign speeds of about 35mb/s on average, you say micro and mini usb 3 cables exist but mostly propietary, this is not that case, it is exactly like a usb 2 mini-B ending.

@JKLeiss, yes the model numbers match, i know what youre thinking but according to case it came out of its the right model number.

@ayle, yes i know the cables are different which is why im really questionning this, i dont think its actually usb 3 i was just hoping for it to be confirmed by someone who is an expert and can tell me for sure that usb 3 cables cannot be in the form of a usb 2 mini-b cable or something.

thanks for the help

 

OK, I appreciate everyones help but it appears the problem has been resolved.

I noticed that when i connected the cable to my usb 3 port on my laptop, it dispayed the message "device is not working as fast as it can, connect to a usb 3 device" blah blah blah, so i decided to try and update my usb 3 controller driver and upon doing so successfully, i plugged my hard drive back in and the message was not displayed.

upon doing tests in HD tune, it now shows speeds of usb 3, which is an average of 99 mb/s transfer rate. thanks to all for the help, apparently usb 3 can be acheived in mini-B usb form, that is something I did not know (and doesnt show on usb WIKIPEDIA page either!!!) grr, oh well problem resolved thanks again.

 

Do you see additional contacts in the connectors on the box and cable. In these dimensions, everything must be very compact and small. The question of reliability.

 

Here is my WD Scorpio Black 250 in a Venus DS2 USB 3.0 enclosure with a usb 3.0 express card




Yes they are correct about the blue plastic at the connection.

Those speeds are almost the exact same as when the drive was in my laptop.

The drive is running at its max so there is plenty of bandwidth still there using 3.0