Icy Box IB-250StU SATA-to-USB enclosure

Quick overview of the Raidsonic Icy Box IB-250StU external enclosure, which provides a USB interface for 2.5" SATA drives. Manufacturers link: http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/external_cases.php?we_objectID=4354

I bought this alongside my HP nc8430; if I'm going to carry an external data store it seemed most flexible for the disk inside it to have the same interface as the notebook. There don't seem to be a whole lot of choices in 2.5" SATA enclosures, and UK stockists of the IB-250StU are few and far between. I got mine from www.scan.co.uk in the end, cost about GBP13 (~USD20).

In the box you get:

• the aluminium enclosure itself with a packet of screws, including spares, and a screwdriver
• a CD of drivers
• a USB to mini-USB interface cable
• a USB to power-only cable
• a soft non-leather case

The enclosure case is a simple two-part affair with an on-off switch and two indicator lights - one for power, the second for data transfer.

I had selected a Western Digital Scorpio WD800BEVS for its quiet ( www.silentpcreview.com) reputation. The aluminium case sections have damping pads fitted to provide some cushioning and vibration containment. Once pushed home into the SATA interface panel I used the enclosed screwdriver to secure the two case sections together.

I found it necessary to use the USB-power lead in addition to the data lead for the drive to spin up. Upon first connection XP automatically recognised the storage device and even the BEVS drive within in, but no new devices appeared in e.g. the My Computer list.

After a bit of net trawling I used some HP software to initialise the disk, at which point it appeared in my Windows disk device list so I could NTFS format it. Once that was complete I could just drag and drop files to and from the drive, as expected.

Overall impressions are very good. Using a 2.5" drive means that I have a very compact solution which runs quietly and has more than adequate capacity, and is very light to carry. Transfer speed is naturally below that of a direct SATA disk, but quick enough for me. My main irritation is that the protective non-leather case supplied doesn't have anywhere to store the USB cables so I'll have to have those elsewhere in my laptop bag (when I choose one). That just seems a bit thoughtless compared to the positive aspects like the included screwdriver and spare screws.

Pros

• quiet running, depending upon choice of disk
• very light and compact
• enclosure inexpensive
• good build quality
• off-switch
• no external power brick

Cons

• non-leather protective case is padded but doesn't have space for the USB cables you need
• takes up two USB ports, one for power and the other for data
• 2.5" SATA drives more expensive per GB than 3.5" equivalents

Kingsley

 

External 2.5" drives are quite convenient; that's a good-looking enclosure you bought. I can imagine that the SATA versions are difficult to find.

I have a Vantec 2.5" Aluminum enclosure I bought for $17 (at the time, it is $14 now: link) - works great. I have a Western Digital Scorpio 80GB 5400RPM in there, Ultra ATA. Took it out of my old laptop; awesome drives, very quiet and they stay pretty cool too.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to put this review together Kingsley.