Tagan Icy Box JBOD Hard Drive Enclosure Review

CONCLUSION

One thing is for sure: this one sleek and stylish enclosure. It may not be as fast as some of the other enclosures we have reviewed but quite honestly these differences are mainly so small as to be not worth worrying about. Regardless of what SATA hard drive you use in this enclosure, the biggest bottleneck will always be the USB interface any theoretical performance over this level is wasted. When performance can’t point to a clear winner the only thing you have left to judge one of these enclosures on is ease of use.

In the area of ease of use is where the Icy Box truly excels. Its fast yet reasonably durable installation method is truly user-friendly and installing hard drives is a snap. In fact the only enclosure which is able to beat it in ease of use is not even a true enclosure! The BlacX hard docking station we reviewed awhile ago is faster at installation but it lacks the protection that the Icy Box offers.

When you add in free backup software and the ability to have two hard drives installed, the Icy Box becomes a clear winner for many different people. It may not be perfect for road warriors as it does lack any semblance of data protection, but for anyone looking for a fast, easy to use (yet durable), value oriented 2 bay USB JBOD enclosure you should take a long hard look at the Icy Box IB-3220STU-B.


Pros
- Easy installation
- Good looks
- Backup Software included
- Great static pressure cooling fan

Cons
- JBOD only
- Keyed opening not user friendly
- Retail packaging issues