We all know someone who has lost important data in the past. That is why most IT people stress the importance of backups. Whether you backup data, music, video, etc, it is essential to have a drive/enclosure you can trust. The good folks at IcyDock have sent us the IcyDock MB124E, which is a 2.5 ATA enclosure with Firewire 400 interface. If the IE1394 protocol is not suitable for your system, they also make a USB 2.0 model : IcyDock MB124U.
IcyDock 2.5 Firewire Enclosure
‘A Second Opinion’ Review By Tomas Ratas
Edited by: Kristofer Brozio
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Product Description:
One of the most elegantly designed externally attached storage device with light aluminum weight cooling body to be made portable. It could also be utilized as a desktop storage device for both desktops and laptops in conserving your work space. The rubberized surrounding exterior and the inner built storage drive stabilizer suspends the storage drive to avoid corruption of data when accidentally bumped into; moreover, the four rubberized foot stands keep the device sturdy and in place, providing absolute protection of your storage drive from all angles.
Suggested Applications:
Simple add-on data/media files storage to laptops/desktops in conserving work space, data file backups
Product Features:
* Host: Firewire 400
* Drive fit : 1 x 2.5" ATA 100 (not included)
* Elegant design with light weight aluminum built cooling and rubberized surrounding
* Inner storage drive suspension stabilizer in keeping data stable
* Sturdy rubberized foot stands in avoiding slips and bumps
* Includes a traveling storage pouch
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Specs:
Item Number::
MB124E
Internal Host
Firewire 400
Drive Fit
1 x 2.5" ATA100
Transfer Rate
400 Mb/sec.
Structure
Aluminum body w/ rubberized surrounding
Drive Cooling
Aluminum heat dispersion
LED Indication
Device Power & Drive Activity
LED Display Color
Green: Device Power ; Amber: Drive Activity
OS Requirement
Windows 98/SE/ME/XP/2000 ; Mac OS 9.0 or higher
Dimension (LxWxH)
198.0 x 148.0 x 42.0 mm
Weight
1.50 lbs
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A Better Look at Things
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(Editor’s Note, this review is part of our ‘A Second Opinion’ series where Tom will take a second look at one of the products already reviewed, the original review is HERE)
The IcyDock MB124E comes in a silver box that accents the elegant silver and blue enclosure. When you open the box, you will be greeted by the enclosure, a firewire cable, the power cord, an international power plug adapter, a bag of screws for securing the drive, and velvety carry pouch.
The MB124E is a stylish silver clamshell enclosure with a blue rubberized bumper which covers the front and side edges of the device. At the back there is another rubberized bumper which seems to be designed for a 5.25 PC docking system that is described in the instructions but is not found on the IcyDock website. The bottom of the dock features four blue rubberized grommets which contain sunken screws which hold the IcyDock MB124E together.
In front, there is a black acrylic window which masks the indicator lights for power and drive activity.
The rubberized material is to provide protection for the enclosure as well as for noise reduction and vibration dampening. The brushed aluminum finish provides an stylish appearance and allows excess heat to easily dissipate.
The chipset for the enclosure is identified as Oxford Semiconductor’s OXF911 IDE to IEEE1394 Bridge with Realtek’s 8801 FireWire 400 PHY.
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Installation, Testing and Comparison
Taking apart the MB124E was rather simple. The only caveat is the need for a thin small flathead screwdriver to remove the four screws from the base. Once the clamshell is open, you have the top and bottom halves and a removable mother card which is secured by four rubberized grommets through which the screws from the top of the enclosure protrude.
The hard drive is installed by plugging in the IDE end of the hard drive into the IDE connector on the mother card. Attach the mother card back onto the grommets and just put it back together.
For testing, I used SimpliSoftwares HDTach 3.0.1.0 for benchmarking. The benchmarking was done using a MacBook Pro running Boot Camp 1.1.2 beta.
The MacBook Pro is running a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor 1024MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and a Fujitsu MHT2080BH 5400 80GB Serial ATA. While, the IcyDock has Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST980815A 80GB 5400 RPM.
For testing I ran the Quick Bench (8MB Zones) and the Long Bench (32MB Zones).
Higher scores are better for Burst and Read, while lower is better for Random Access.
The results show that the IcyDock runs consistently at 14.8 MB/s, while the internal hard drive 28.7MB/s during the Quick Bench run.
While during the Long Bench, results were pretty much the same with the Icy Dock clocking at 14.8 MB/s and the internal hard drive at 28 MB/s.
Based on benchmarks during this review and the review from Dracos, the performance of the IcyDock MB124E is rather poor. However, in my opinion, in the real world setting, the IcyDock MB124E does not seem slower than other types of external devices.
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Summary:
The IcyDock MB124E is not the fastest Firewire external enclosure on the market as seen by the benchmarks. However, it is an aesthetically attractive enclosure, which is silent and keeps the drive cool.
DragonSteelMods gives the IcyDock MB124E 2.5 Firewire Enclosure a 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
– Extremely quiet
– Elegant Design
– Sturdy Construction
– Thermodynamically efficient
Cons:
– Slow
– Larger than most 2.5 inch enclosures