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Home » External Drives and Enclosures » OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable Drives & Enclosures

OWC

Express USB 3.0
1.0TB Portable Storage Solution

Mac / PC / USB 3.0
Exceptional Data Rates up to 155MB/s
Portable simplicity in an affordable, pocket-sized package
Express your digital life with style and convenience
The pocket-sized OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable Storage Drive offers bus-powered personal storage performance in an ultra-portable, design no AC adapter needed. With the included USB connecting cable and carrying sleeve, and compatible with Macs and PCs, the OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable Storage Drive puts your music, photos, and personal data right where you need them, with storage to spare.
Main Image
  • Gallery Pic 1
  • Gallery Pic 2
Highlights
  • Portable
  • Compact and Bus-Powered
  • Plug and Play

Product Specifications:

Software Requirements

  • Mac OS X 10.2 or later
  • Windows 98 or later

Hardware Requirements

  • Recommended: Mac or PC featuring a USB 3.0 port
  • Minimum: Mac or PC featuring a USB 2.0 port

Interface (Chipset)

  • USB 3.0 (ASMedia 1053e)

Max Transfer Rate

  • USB 3.0: 5Gb/s

Notes

  • 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending upon operating environment (typically 5-10% less).
  • The actual total capacity will depend on your own defined file settings/preferences.
  • OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components.

Color

  • Black

Ports

  • (1) USB 3.0

Standard Mechanism

  • 1.0TB* Toshiba MQ04AB Series Hard Disk Drive**

Plug and Play

  • Yes

Power

  • Bus Powered

Security Slot

  • None

Drive Interface

  • SATA 6.0Gb/s

Rotational Speed

  • 5,400 RPM

Drive Cache

  • 128 MB

Dimensions

  • Height: 15 mm (0.6 in)
  • Length: 130 mm (5.1 in)
  • Width: 79 mm (3.1 in)

Altitude

  • Environmental (Operating)
    • -304.8 m to 3,048.0 m (-1,000 ft to 10,000 ft)
  • Environmental (Non-Operating)
    • -304.8 m to 12,192.0 m (-1,000 ft to 40,000 ft)
Manufacturer provided specifications for Other World Computing p/n ESU3M1.0B UPC#: 810586030908

Gallery


Gallery Pic 1 Gallery Pic 2

Benchmarks

Click any of the benchmarks below to view the results.
macOS Test Results
Windows Test Results

Videos


Customer Ratings

Write a Review 4.7 / 5 59 out of 69 (86%) reviewers would recommend this product
1 2 3 4
Verified Buyer
Reviewer: eggman9713 Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 4/5 Inexpensive enclosure from a name I trust. September 7, 2020 I've used many different enclosures like this from various brands, and often they are of questionable quality and have high failure and DOA rates. This one has given me no trouble in the year I've owned it. Simple, inexpensive, and reliable. It is still made of plastic so it would be better if metal, but there are other products for that.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Smooth White. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Philonous Location: Gold Coast, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 Cheap enclsosure that works perfecty August 15, 2020 What can I say? It's cheap, it has perfect circuitry, and it is rugged. I got it, I installed my old hard drive into it, and now I get blazing speed via USB 3 with my new MacBook.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from (*) OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: DaWeve Location: Missouri Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 5/5 Great backup for my wife's MacBook Pro August 10, 2020 Purchased this to replace older external drive that finally gave up the ghost.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 1.0TB OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable External Drive - White. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Available2act Location: WA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 Works Like a Charm July 13, 2020 Plug it in and the OWS portable drive tells you what to do next. I have not used the 1 Tb portable drive yet but can assume I will be just as satisfied with it. Thank you.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable External Drive - Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: starman Location: Williams Bay, WI Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5 enclosure is easy to use July 3, 2020 I have now used this enclosure for various new disks as I clone old disks to new and then install the new disks as replacements in laptops. It has been easy to install the disks and then remove them as needed.

This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: OldTimer70 Location: Long Island, New York Age: Over 65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 5/5 A reliable & affordable mini external drive, ideal for Time Machine backups, May 14, 2020 especially the 2.0 TB model (Mfr P/N: ESU3M2.0B; OWC SKU: OWCESU3M2.0B; eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ESU3M2.0B/). And the USB 3.0 (mini) interface is plenty fast for any 2.5" hard drive.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable External Drive - Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor
Reviewer: GrantY Location: Savannah, GA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5 As advertised February 3, 2020 Easy to setup and install. Works perfectly.

This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Krismo Location: Sapporo, Japan Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 4/5 Affordable quality June 24, 2019 The external hard drive was at a good price and I decided to buy it to have somewhere to store my school and work files. It`s basic, but my only complaint is the case it comes in feels a little flimsy. But it is very light and easy to carry with me on the go. Overall I`m very happy, and I don`t care about writing speeds, as long as I have lots of memory and writes at a decent speed. It also came with a small carry case.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 1.0TB OWC Express USB 3.0 Portable External Drive - White. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor
Reviewer: GlennC Location: Tucson, AZ Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 4/5 A great little drive chassis January 29, 2019 I upgraded the hard drive in several Mac Minis to SSDs, and use these to contain the original spinning drives for off-site backups. Lightweight but durable.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: djseebee Location: Qatar Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5 Great Product January 17, 2019 very good quality & Cheap Price

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Smooth White. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Frank Location: Prescott, AZ Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 5/5 Very nice external case December 20, 2018 I currently have a 1TB hard disk drive in the case, connected to a 2018 Mac Mini. It's the perfect case/drive for a back up drive and I'm very happy with it

I would recommend this item to a friend! Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor
Reviewer: Curtterp Location: Northern IL Age: 55-65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 4/5 Works like a charm October 25, 2018 I use this as a travel backup Hard drive. Works well with my MacBook Pro 2013

I yet to use it with my new MacBook Pro 2018

This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: JimT61 Location: Derwood, MD Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5 Just as advertised September 17, 2018 Bought to serve as drive to receive Carbon Copy Cloner files. Worked just great and has added attraction of being so light and compact.

I would recommend this item to a friend! Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 100 Contributor
Reviewer: MikeB5 Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 A solid product August 7, 2018 I gave away the first enclosure I got from OWC. Decided to buy another for myself.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: dnfnd Location: Fargo, ND Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5 Worked for my needs July 29, 2018 I put the drive from my failing 2010 MacBook Pro in this enclosure so I could copy the contents to another external drive. Installation was a piece of cake. (I agree with another reviewer who noted that the instructions show installing the screws in the reverse positions from what actually works.) The enclosure is well-designed, and fit and finish is excellent. It's plastic, so it maybe wouldn't stand up to a large number of drive changes, so plan accordingly for your needs. It lives up to the quality standards of other products I've purchased from MacSales.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Maclovr
Rating: 5/5 Great Product July 4, 2018 Everything worked as promised, but the included machine screws were the opposite of the instructions.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: adolfo Location: Mexico Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 great product May 20, 2018 I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from (*) OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:
Verified Buyer
Reviewer: JayT Location: USA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 Nice External Enclosure April 1, 2018 This is a nice external enclosure, easy to work with, easy to install a drive.

The case is plastic so if you plan on opening the case a lot to switch drives, this is not the case for you. Get a drive dock instead.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Mamu
Rating: 5/5 A Fine Enclosure March 29, 2018 I had trouble with several hard drive enclosures exhibiting strange problematic behaviors on my Mac Mini so I came to MacSales to get something that was more certain to work. I am not disappointed. This enclosure is working fine and while I haven't bothered to benchmark it at all performance seems plenty fast considering the standard rotational drive I've put inside - certainly USB 3.0 speeds. The only ding I'd give it is that it is not especially sturdy. It's fine, but it would never be mistaken for a rugged product. If you buy one - and id recommend it, just treat it gently.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Carcass Location: Monrovia, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 5/5 Good price and great product March 11, 2018 MacSales has the perfect stuff for Mac users and this item is no exception. I installed a Mercury SSD and it is flawless.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor
Reviewer: IamUOG Location: New England Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 5/5 Perfect March 7, 2018 When my 2011 MacBook Pro died I didn't want to loose it's hard drive (OWC SSD). Just a few minutes with a screwdriver and the drive, with all my data was out of the computer and safely installed in this case. It's now my backup drive. And by the way, backups between two solid state drives are amazingly fast.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer Top 100 Contributor
Reviewer: MacArtist3 Location: Mentor, Ohio Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 5-6 months
Rating: 5/5 Nice enclosure February 5, 2018 Nice enclosure but would be nicer if it had an on off switch. Thanks

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Melonhead Location: NZ Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: over 6 months
Rating: 5/5 easy setup, simple assembly. read to go January 31, 2018 with only two screws to anchor the drive and two screws to secure the case closed this could not be any easier. plastic not metal but comes with a simple slip case and a USB 3 cable. meets my needs perfectly as a way to repurpose the drive i removed from my 2012 mac mini.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: TheMick
Rating: 5/5 Did exactly what it's supposed to do! January 29, 2018 Great custoner service guidance, and great product.

This review is from OWC Express 2.5" Portable USB 3.0 Enclosure for SATA Notebook HDDs - Sleek Silver. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Mdwycyoff Location: Indiana Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months
Rating: 4/5 Housing is well-made and nice looking. January 26, 2018 Totally my fault for not investigating potential issues first, but I purchased this housing for an upgraded portable Time Machine drive used exclusively with my mid-2015 MacBook Air. (The drive was originally used in a USB2 external enclosure for Time Machine backups with an original white mid-2007 MacBook, so USB2 was all that was required.)

The Good News: This 2.5" external drive housing is high quality, and nice looking, and it works. Time Machine data backups are now faster than the same 1TB 7200rpm HGST Travelstar drive in the old USB2 portable enclosure.

But as I discovered almost immediately, a USB3 signal MAY interfere with WiFi signals (and vice-versa), especially IF the USB3 device is located near the WiFi and Bluetooth antennas.

On the mid-2015 MacBook Air both antennas are apparently located low on the screen in the back near the screen hinge. Because of the short USB3 cable that ships with this enclosure, I originally placed the drive enclosure BEHIND the MacBook Air on the desktop and routed the cable directly BEHIND the computer.

That's a no-no! Because suddenly, my WiFi was no longer reliable. As in, long periods of 0% throughput. Even after rebooting, clearing caches, resetting SMC and PRAM/NVRAM, and updating to the latest version of macOS, High Sierra 10.13.2 (and now 10.13.3)

The enclosed short USB 3 cable comes equipped with two large magnets near the ends to minimize RF interference. Unfortunately, in my setup, there is still enough interference between the USB3 signal and the Wifi signal to bring the WiFi connection to a crawl, or a complete halt. I tried both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi connections and re-orienting both the MacBook Air and the router. 5Ghz was a bit better than 2.4Ghz but still not even close to reliable.

What to do? Current Solution: I purchased a longer .9 meter USB3 cable (from the OWC Garage Sale - I will review the cable when I complete this write-up) so it should be among my list of Reviewed Products soon.

With the longer cable, I relocated the USB3 drive enclosure as far away from the MacBook Air as physically possible, on a nightstand about .8 meters away from the computer, stretching the new cable straight out from the MacBook Air USB port to it's full length of about 1 meter, with no cable near the hinge area. Even though this longer cable lacks any magnets to reduce RF, the interference problem has completely disappeared, and both USB3 and Wifi are coexisting peacefully and reliably again.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Express Portable Bus-Powered USB 3.0 Enclosure for 2.5" SATA Notebook HDDs & SSDs - Discreet Black. Customer Videos:

OWC Express USB 3.0 1.0TB Portable Storage Solution Mfr P/N: ESU3M1.0B OWC SKU: OWCESU3M1.0B Compact, Bus-Powered, Boot Compatible storage for home, office, school, and on the go! 2 Year OWC Limited Warranty Ships: Same Day
Reviews (69)
Only $69.99Cyber Saver $59.88
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Additional Colors & Capacities: Enclosure Only
  • Black
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