14 DAY TRIAL // Well-known storage enclosure specialist Icy Dock, the maker of the innovative MB992SK-B Dual Bay 2.5” SATA Mobile Rack that we’ve presented here, is now launching an external, autonomous 3.5” HDD enclosure.
The name of the new device is Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard and it will allow the user to mount a regular 3.5” desktop HDD inside and connect it to the computer using one of the three different connection types.
The Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard is a well-designed unit although what we’d call plain ugly, Ivy Dock calls “elegantly designed hardware.”
The strange shape of the device comes from the fact that it uses an 80-millimeter cooling fan at the front of the unit to blow fresh air along the entire length of the hard drive, thus cooling it down quickly and efficiently.
The use of the 80mm fan makes the Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard quieter and ensures a longer life span of the cooling fan as it won’t have to rotate at very high speeds to achieve good cooling efficiency.
Having low rotational speed means that the fan is silent and the wear and tear that come with small 4000 RPM fans will not affect the Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard, thus allowing the fan to have a longer MTBF.
There are also some smart aesthetical features to the Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard as the bright colored LEDs at the front of the unit.
The LEDs will usually shine blue, but if a 50 degrees temperature is detected, the LEDs will turn red and this is a very useful feature as the user is not always near the enclosure to read some small LCD screen and take the appropriate measures.
Icy Dock MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard comes with three different connection technologies, FireWire 800, eSATA and USB 2.0.
The company calls this “everything but the kitchen sink,” but we don’t agree as there is no USB 3.0 and there’s no reason that shouldn’t be included.
The unit supports a single 3.5” HDD with a maximum capacity of 3 TB. It is backed by a 3-year warranty and will be available on 31st of August 2012.
