That's three high-quality enclosures down, and it became quite clear during our time with them that they each have a distinct niche to fill. As a consequence you wouldn't say that any could have a cast-iron recommendation for any end-use or situation, but you may find any - or all - effective to meet the varied needs of a home or small business. They all however provide a massive improvement over older USB 2.0 enclosures, and are almost a must-have upgrade given the ballooning of file sizes for video and audio in recent years.



We found the IB-116StU3-B docking station to be exceptionally convenient. Mirroring essential patches, drivers, video files and Steam folders over multiple machines is one use almost daily use we could put it to, where installing within a computer chassis is time-consuming and an enclosure dedicated to the job is unsuitable. Copying exceptionally large video files, even on SSD, is fast and trouble-free. It isn't a jack of all trades, but should be a very useful tool in an arsenal of someone who works in the industry or provides some level of IT support.

Where the docking station will be less suitable is for heavy workloads where read/write cycles to the HDD are required. Even with an SSD the USB protocols will include a heavy overhead versus SATA. Furthermore PC chassis are increasingly building native SATA docking stations into the case itself, sidestepping some of the downsides. These solutions don't have the portability of the IB-116 though, and so fulfil only one side of the equation.



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The single-bay IB-36StU3+B could have been unremarkable were it not for two key features: supporting SATAIII drives and UASP. Both work well to boost throughput, the latter also improving performance with more demanding workloads that can take advantage of the protocol. The disappointment is that the enclosure will not support 2.5" SSDs natively, practically restricting the speeds of compatible drives without the use of a form factor converter. Despite this, even slower mechanical HDDs which support NCQ will benefit over standard USB protocols.

It's clear therefore that the enclosure is designed for modern systems. Unfortunately there is a cruel twist: not all USB 3.0-enabled systems will support UASP, and discovering whether your hardware will be compatible is an exercise in frustration. If your system isn't one of the lucky ones then the IB-36StU3+B may seem expensive, but otherwise it can be well worth its weight.

As a more standard enclosure the IB-366StU3+B is still very sturdy thanks to the aluminium chassis, and extremely easy to use. Noise dynamics will tend to depend on the HDD you're using rather than the enclosure itself, but it did a acceptable job in isolating our test HDD from a desk with which it has resonated with previous enclosures. Due to this we're happy with awarding the IB-36StU3+B a Silver award thanks to its usability and features, with the proviso that you will want to become familiar with your own system specs before assuming that you can take full advantage of it.



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As with the single-bay variant, the Dual-bay IB-3662 is accomplished in being a sturdy device with solid functionality. For those who need the portable storage of two HDDs (up to 4TB per drive) the enclosure may seem ideal, but it should be stressed that this isn't - and shouldn't be approached as - an alternative to a NAS. Although not silent, the fan isn't obtrusive in a work environment; those seeking true silence would need to utilise SSDs in any case, something which the IB-3662 isn't well suited to.

The question is, is there a market for users who just need a dual-bay enclosure rather than a NAS. That's a tough one to field, a NAS does after all offer far greater functionality at even an entry level. However the relative affordability of the IB-3662 cannot be underestimated, and so for those seeking to expand available semi-permanent storage with the added benefit of being portable it could be a justifiable boon. It should however be stressed that it doesn't serve as a true and comprehensive back-up device except in a superficial sense.