Tagan Icy Box JBOD Hard Drive Enclosure Review

The very first thing which you notice when taking a good look at the IB-3220 is the huge self portrait on the front of its packaging is wrong. This unit does not have shiny silver doors. Yes they are made from aluminum, but they are done in a brushed non reflective finish which has then been blackened. It is a minor oversight and I'm sure it was not intentional, but anyone buying it for its high bling factor will be disappointed. This is because the Icy Box IB-3220STU-B takes a very minimalistic approach when it comes to style. Don't get me wrong, it is very stylish but it is a style which is very muted and self deprecating and not glitzy nor glamorous in any shape or form. In other words it’s the external enclosure's version of the Strong Silent Type taken to the nth degree.


The brushed aluminum on the front of the enclosure is not just there for it’s good looks, they are actually the doors where you load your hard drives into the unit. On the front left side there are two small keyholes where you insert the included "keys" to pop open one or both of these doors. Though we use the term key, they are in fact nothing more than small blunt nose pieces of plastic which have a lot more in common with CD stuck case tray openers (or even guitar picks) than they do with a real honest to goodness key. Would a small button (or two) have cost too much? Would this have taken it outside of its projected price range? On the positive side, at least with these keys if you do end up losing them, it doesn't matter as any small pointy thing will work in a pinch.


As mentioned earlier, this enclosure takes a very minimalistic approach to everything and except for the back of the case the only thing that breaks it’s clean sharp lines is a small brushed aluminum button located on the front of the device. This button is aptly labeled “backup” since when pressed, it signals the software (that you hopefully already installed) on your computer to run. It is clean, it is subtle and it completely looks out of place on this unit. The very first thing you will think it is, is a power button; so be warned the power button is located on the back of the Icy Box and pressing this small button on the front will not and in fact can not power down the device.

When the enclosure is powered on a small blue power LED will glow and another blue led glows when a hard drive is accessed. Both of these LEDs are recessed behind plastic on top of the front of the enclosure and when they are active they do help lend some symmetry to the look of the device, as they are on the opposite end of the front from the backup button. It may not be much but it helps reduce the nagging feeling that the backup button was nothing but an afterthought. All in all it could be worse; they could have put the power button on the front and had the backup button on the back of the unit; now that would have been confusing.


The back of the unit is where the IB-3220 finally puts function over form. However, in typical Tagan fashion, it has a form which enhances the various functions. The perfect example of this is the recessed power adapter. Instead of being mounted flush with the back of the unit it has been elegantly recessed so even if you are not looking (say you are reaching behind the unit to find the plug to plug it in) you will automatically be guided to the right places as long as you are in the right area. It is little things like this which really stand out and make this a user friendly device to use.

The full list of features found on the back include: the power adapter plug, power switch USB port, a Kensington lock port (lock is not included) and the fan and fan controller. The fan controller is another of those nice touches which also highlight the quality and engineering that went into this unit. Just as you can tell an Apple product just by looking at it, so can you too tell this was made by a true customer-oriented company. After all who else but a superbly customer-orientated company like Tagan has it’s engineers include not only a controller switch which allows for high speed or low speed cooling but even allows you the option of turning off the fan entirely? I am sure someone, somewhere (probably in some obscure focus group) stated they like having the option of turning their actively cooled hard drive enclosure into a passive one and because of that ONE person Tagan included an off switch. Some would say this is taking the old adage that the customer is always right a step too far, but honestly when has this ever been a problem? Heck, I wish most of my problems were because companies were trying too hard to please me. Bravo Tagan, bravo.


As a final note on the outside of the IB-3220STU, the bottom of it not only has four rubber feet, but four plastic posts which encircle the rubber feet. This little tweak on a seemingly common feature ensures the rubber feet are never torn or rubbed off, or migrate from the corners as does happen from time to time on similar competitors products.