14 DAY TRIAL // Even though the lack of integration into motherboards has, so far, severely hampered the adoption of the next-generation USB 3.0, the new standard still seems to have gained a rather impressive momentum, with a decent range of USB 3.0-enabled flash drives, SSDs, HDDs and express cards already launched. Still, for those end-users that want to employ their spare SATA HDDs and SSDs at high speeds, RaidSonic has come out with a trio of enclosures that support the new standard and are also backwards compatible with USB 2.0.
The Icy Box IB-RD4320StU3-B desktop enclosure can house SATA hard drives or solid state drives using the 3.5-inch form factor. The device can fit inside it two such units and supports JBOD and RAID 0,1 and 0+1 configurations. These drives will be able to offer high levels of performance thanks to the USB 3.0 interface's maximum theoretical transfer rate of 5Gbps.
The second device in the Icy Box series is the Icy Box IB-330StU3 enclosure. This product is meant to be a portable solution, but it will work well with desktop PCs. It can handle 3,5-inch hard drives and solid state drives and even comes with silicon inserts, which dampen noise, enabling a quiet operation at high data-transfer rates.
The third device in the line is RaidSonic's Icy Box IB-230StU3. Like its sibling (IB-330StU3), this device is portable, but it is also especially designed to work best as a pocketable enclosure. It can house drives based on the 2.5-inch form factor and the brushed metal and aluminum used in the casing itself makes it both light and sturdy.
The RaidSonic Icy Box newcomers will not be immediately available. The 2.5-inch ready Icy Box IB-230StU3 will be the first to start shipping, with availability scheduled for next month and a price of 27 Euro. The second to arrive will be the Icy Box IB-330StU3, currently set for April 2010 and with a price tag of 39 Euro. The IB-RD4320StU3-B has not been given a price or release date as of yet.
