Tagan Icy Box JBOD Hard Drive Enclosure Review

INTERIOR IMPRESSIONS

Taking apart the Icy Box IB-3220 is a relatively straight forward affair. One simply has to unscrew four screws on the back of the unit and then gently pry the entire metal back off of the plastic case. Patience is a virtue when doing this since there is a black plastic finishing edge which stays attached to the plastic case and can break very easy if you try to pry it off with the rest.

When you do get the metal back plate off you will be amazed at how spare the insides are. You basically have a fan attached to the PCB, a bunch of power connectors (for everything from the LEDS to the FAN) and the two SATA power / data connectors and that is it. No capacitors, no fancy dip switches, nothing but plain old reliable solid state electronics.

If you are feeling really daring you can remove the PCB board for the metal backplate very easily, just remember what connectors go where or you may be in for a bit of trial and error to get everything working properly again. Since we don’t trust our memories that much a bit of tape and a given number was placed on each set of wires and removed in a clockwise fashion; by doing it this way we could ensure each connector would definitely be plugged into the right connection when it was time to put everything back together.


The fan which cools down the unit is a T&T 4010M05S 40x40x10mm fan; it runs at a nominal speed if 5000rpm and moves 7.21CFM with an impressive 2.1 mmH20 static pressure. This fan uses the standard 2 pin connector and removal of the fan consists of unplugging it from the printed circuit board (PCB) and unscrewing two bolts holding it in place. This means if does become noisy and or die an early death, it can quickly & easily be swapped out for a more high performance fan. The only caveat is if your replacement fan does not accept nuts you may have to just tighten the nut down and use the whole fan body to hold them in place. A small drop of locktite would ensure the nut would not come loose and should work just as well as if it was keyed for nuts.


The brain of this enclosure is the JMicron JM20336 controller chip. This is a “bridge controller", which translates the communication protocol between SATA II 3.0G and Hi-Speed USB commands. The integrated 15MIPS 8051, dual-port SATA II 3.0G and Hi-Speed USB technology enable users to perform Hi-Speed USB to SATA II 3.0G, and SATA II 3.0G to SATA II 3.0G applications in a signal chip.” In a nut shell this little guy is one powerful little controller which just a few years ago would have been (at the very least) two separate chips. This micronization of already small controllers leads to lower latencies and decreased power requirements.

It appears the inside of the enclosure is just as well refined as the external appearance is. All in all the internals of the Icy Box are well laid out and airflow restrictions have been kept to a minimum. If the engineering and design is anything to go by this is going to be one impressive unit!