ICY BOX USB External Enclosures Review

👤by Tim Harmer Comments 📅16-09-13
ICYBOX IB-3662U3 2-Bay 3.5" External HDD Enclosure



Moving on to the IB-3662U3, we can immediately see the consistent branding in packaging design. The pack itself is of course considerably larger than that for the 116StU3 and 366StU3, but the distinctive white with blue band is still present. Once again the product you're buying is shown, and Icy Box have ensured that the main features including compatible disk sizes (3.5" only in this case) and the interface types on drive and PC end are clearly indicated. As with the previous enclosures, the 3662U3's shouldn't pose any confusion to the casual buyer browsing a brick-and-mortar retailer.

Technical Specifications

* Compatible Disk Sizes:- 2 x 3.5"

* Supports JBOD Function: Two Independent Drives In OS

* Loading Type:- Tray, toolless

* Disk Interface:- SATA I/II/III

* PC Interface:- USB 3.0 (backwards compatible to USB 2.0)

* External Power:- Yes

* Dimensions: 203mm x 82mm x 147mm (L x W x H)


--



Like the IB-366StU3+B the IB-3662U3 is a true enclosure which surrounds the whole of the drive(s), providing some measure of protection and noise dampening. The enclosure chassis is a sturdy 2mm thick aluminium alloy with a hard-wearing textured finish that will tend to resist fingerprints. Unlike the IB-366StU3, the IB-3662U3 isn't supported off the desk by a stand, nor by substantial noise dampening feet. Icy Box instead provide a strip of 2mm thick self-adhesive rubber pre-punched with four circular 'feet' so act as a noise and vibration dampening layer. You can arrange the feet along a side of the chassis in any way you require, or instead choose a different (3rd party) solution for noise and vibration isolation.

Fronting the enclosure are two plastic doors with individual eject buttons and indicator LEDs. When the button is pressed the door swings open from the bottom, revealing a tray and tongue mechanism which will aid loading the disk(s) considerably. At the other end of the tray is the SATA power and data connection, as well as a spring-loaded metal bar similar to that of the IB-366StU3's and intended to aid in the extrication of drives from the enclosure. The lack of a large spring at the rear is noticeable, and may affect drive stability compared to the single-bay solution. Additionally the orientation of the SATA connectors is flipped 180 degrees, so once again checking is required lest you damage the components inside.



At the rear of the enclosure are the connectivity points for USB 3.0, 12V DC power and an on/off power switch. Note the USB 3.0 type B socket, backwards compatible with USB 2.0. ICY BOX once again supply a true USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 cable rather than utilising a cheaper alternative or requiring an additional purchase from the end-user. Interestingly, as with the single-bay solution there are spaces on the rear for a number of unused connector types, perhaps indicating that the backplate is reused from a NAS function device. At the top is a single 60mm fan; the two-bay enclosure was obviously deemed to warrant active cooling rather than the passive solution seen on the IB-366.

--



Inserting and extracting drives from the IB-3662U3 is simple and, as mentioned, toolless. Upon opening a door you're presented with guide rails at the top and bottom which fit a standard 3.5" form factor drive, although a fractional horizontal gap means that it's not quite as stable as the 366StU3. Once the drive is 90% inside the enclosure you will feel some resistance from the metal bar at the rear, at which point can close the door firmly; we should note that you may want to rest a hand on the top of the enclosure when closing the door in order to hold it in place. The guide rails and spring-loaded mechanism inside ensures that everything remains relatively tight.

During operation we found that the stand did a fair job of reducing vibration from the drive, whilst the enclosure gripped the drive tight enough to eliminate the sound of the drive rattling against the guide rails. The dampening wasn't quite enough to remove resonating effects fully - the particular drive we used interacts with the test station's desk quite aggressively - perhaps down to the feet being relatively thin. It's possible that if using the enclosure on a day-to-day basis you will want to investigate alternative options, such as a small rubber mouse-mat.



We were a little disappointed to note that the fan will run continuously, regardless of the number of drives in the enclosure, activity levels or temperature. Although it does provide a level of overheating protection to the HDDs the fan isn't a touch smarter and offer more for long-term quality of life. Furthermore rather than a continuous hum it has a rhythmic swishing characteristic which is a little disruptive, but thankfully is pitched low enough such that it never becomes annoying.

The status LED is solid blue when powered on, purple when the HDD is in operation and red when any particular bay is empty. It provides a great indicator of activity and power state, and prevents you from accidentally removing an active drive. If the system sends the HDD to a power off/sleep mode the light will go out entirely, which we believe means that the drive is also safe to remove.

--

Overall the IB-3662 is a creditable drive for its intended use. In order to push the USB 3.0 connection to the limit you would need to be running an SSD or two, but it is nonetheless pleasing to note that you won't be hampered by a USB 2.0 connection yet still have compatibility where necessary. Unfortunately the drive really needs to support a 2.5" form factor for SSDs, and although converters to a 3.5" form factor do exist they will add a considerable cost to the solution. If you're looking for a USB 3.0 enclosure for two 2.5" SSDs you're better off looking elsewhere, but there will be few better solutions for mechanical 3.5" drives short of a NAS or dual-eSATA product.

We should mention that it is relatively noisy compared to the IB-366, but that really should be expected given that it's engineered to handle two mechanical HDDs whilst still not costing a fortune. By the same token external temperatures were excellent even after hours of quite heavy use with two drives, which was particularly satisfying given that previous enclosure have become extremely hot to the touch in similar circumstances.

With the above noted overall build quality was very good, and the toolless mechanism quite robust. We encountered the need to stabilise it with a second hand before inserting and removing the drive, but that's really par for the course.

Whilst USB 3.0, throughput rates were not particularly impressive. This is primarily down to the USB 3.0 protocol and no support for UASP, although there are some third-party software innovations which will serve to improve large file read/writes. Once again an eSATA enclosure would perform well, but the IB-3662 is more than sufficient for a large data repository for video, music and archiving games.



5 pages 1 2 3 4 5

Comments