Icy Box HDD Enclosures With USB 3.0 (€32,90)

The new ICY BOX IB-250StU3-B from RaidSonic Technology GmbH is an external enclosure for a 2.5" SATA HDD. The larger ICY BOX IB-318StU3-B is for a 3.5" SATA HDD.

Both offer USB 3.0 with a theoretical data transfer speed of 5.0 GBit/s. That’s some ten times the USB 2.0 speed of 480 MBit/s. Those who are used to store greater amounts of data like from Blu-ray discs will appreciate an ICY BOX with USB 3.0. Precondition is a USB 3.0 cable as well as a host with a USB 3.0 controller. As computers with USB 3.0 controllers are still quite rare, ICY BOX offers a solution that provides that controller on a PCI-E card. It is capable to connect printers, USBsticks and the like too. Thus there is no need to wait for those new computers. As USB 3.0 is downward compatible it is possible to connect devices which offer only USB 2.0.

The age of the superfast USB has begun
That means that further ICY BOX products with USB 3.0 will follow soon. The next ones will be a docking station for 2.5 and 3.5" HDDs and a host adapter for laptops.

Prices

• IB-318StU3-B: recommended retail price incl. VAT 45,50 €
• IB-250StU3-B: recommended retail price incl. VAT 32,90 €
• IB-AC604: recommended retail price incl. VAT 39,90 €

Key features and technical data

IB-318StU3-B

• Premium aluminum case
• HDD capacity 3.5" up to 1 TB
• Supports: PC (Windows XP/Vista, Win 7)
• Horizontal or vertical with stand
• Low noise, fanless design
• Hot Plug & Play and Hot Swap
• Transfer rates: USB 3.0 up to 5 Gbit/s
• Downwardly compatible with USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s) and 1.1
• On-/Off switch

IB-250StU3-B:

• Compact aluminum case
• With pocket
• Supports 2.5" SATA HDD
• USB 3.0 up to 5 Gbit/s
• LED for power and HDD access
• Plug & play
• Downwardly compatible with USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s) and 1.1
• Supports Windows XP/Vista/7

IB-AC604:

• PCI Express singlelane (x1) revision 2.0 (5 Gb/s)
• USB 3.0 Revision 1.0, transfer rate up to 5 Gb/s
• Chipset NEC µPD720200
• Supports simultaneous operation of multiple USB 3.0, USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices.
• With 2 external USB 3.0 ports
• Each USB 3.0 port supplies +5V / 900mA power output
• 4pin power connector for receiving extra power from system
• Hotswap: connect/disconnect devices without powering down the system
• Supports USB data transfer rate of 1.5/12/480/5000 Mb/s
• Compliant with xHCI (eXtensible Host Controller Interface) Revision 0.95
• Support External USB HDD, USB Pendrives, CD-R, Printer, digital camera and video camcorders
• Supporting system Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64bit)