Icy Box - Ib-318stus2-b - Premium Aluminium Case For 3.5" Sata Hdd With Usb 2.0 & Esata Interface

Good, cheap(ish) enclosure
I had previously tended towards buying cheaper enclosures than this, reasoning that there is virtually nothing in them to merit spending more on (it's just a PCB in a metal box after all). However, a recent enclosure failure has made me a little more cautious, especially regarding the quality of the power supply and potential surge damage to the disk, so I moved a little further up market and tried one of these enclosures from Icy Box. This is the first time I have used an Icy Box product and I have to admit I found the quality to be pretty good.

Visually it is very basic - a simple rectangular tube of aluminium with a grill on the front end - yet pretty handsome, especially painted in satin black on its funky, curved stand. There's also an attractive blue power light. A single small screw needs to be removed to gain access to the interior, which I did have a little trouble sliding out as it fits quite tightly.

Inside things remain neat and simple. The hard disk...

Icy Box - Ib-318stus2-b - Premium Aluminium Case For 3.5" Sata Hdd With Usb 2.0 & Esata Interface

Good low cost enclosure
Bought this as I needed an eSata connection, good value and no fan. It replaced an Antec MX-1 enclosure whose fan had failed and despite being in warranty Antec would not fix it or replace it and so I just got a refund from the reseller. Very disappointing.

Easy enough to fit the Sata drive. If you want something more hot swapable then there is a different Icybox (361) with a sort of flip open front where you just slot the drive in off you go. The box is longer than you'd expect presumably to provide more cooling surface as there is no fan. Good news this means no whir of a fan but unfortunately the airspace inside combined with being on a wooden cabinet appears to create a bit of a sound chamber and so the disk access noise is much more noticeable now. The Antec box had rubber mounts. As this is being used in a living room then this has created a problem. The other nuisance is the piercing blue power light on the front which means I don't have it facing into the...

Icy Box - Ib-318stus2-b - Premium Aluminium Case For 3.5" Sata Hdd With Usb 2.0 & Esata Interface

More flexible then using a standard external drive,Very good quality...
I've been using this device on my new laptop via an e-sata connection, and it is lightening fast!

I'm in the process of selling my desktop PC as I just want a laptop and rather than getting