ICY DOCK MB559US-1SMB: eSATA Enclosure with Pizzazz
by Gary Key and Dave Robinet on July 11, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Quick Take
If you are needing to quickly add portable storage to your personal computer system, PVR, or home network then we believe eSATA is the way to do it at this time. Throughout our testing we found that eSATA operation was transparent in the BIOS and in Windows. As far as the system was concerned, the eSATA drive was no different than an internal SATA setup. Although there were a few performance differences in our test suite between our eSATA and internal SATA setups, they were very minor leading us to the conclusion that there is not a true performance difference between the two formats.
Something we never doubted, but it is nice to have data to back up this belief. We believe the minor differences we noticed were probably due to the utilization of the conversion bracket as our test motherboard did not have a native eSATA connection. We did run the same tests on an ASUS P5K-Deluxe board and only in the Sims2 test was there a difference, which was less than two tenths of a second. In fact, in the Nero Recode tests the eSATA setup finished first both times.
We found that ICY DOCK's MB559US-1SMB performed admirably throughout our test sessions. More importantly this enclosure has not failed us in daily use over the course of the last two months. The quality, fit, documentation, and function of the MB559US-1SMB is absolutely superb. Considering the estimated price of $59.99, we expected no less than this type of operation from this external enclosure.
This does not mean all is perfect with the unit. Our noise measurements singled out our primary problem with the enclosure as sounds that were not immediately noticeable with the bare drive became noticeable once the drive was in the enclosure. This problem was expected as ICY BOX made no attempt was to silence the drive inside the enclosure through acoustic padding or drive mounting isolation. That said, to be fair, the ICY DOCK is no better or worse in this respect than any of its competitors we have tested to date. As a reminder, use this enclosure in the vertical position if you have a drive that likes to vibrate such as our Samsung T166 review unit.
As far as day to day operations, we felt constricted having to lug the external power supply around when utilizing the enclosure on different machines but this is true of any eSATA unit. At times the 1m long eSATA cable restricted our ability to locate the drive in a proper position. The inclusion of a 2m long cable would have been appreciated, especially considering the price. One other problem we had was the fact that our drive would not spin down while in the enclosure. It appears that this power savings feature is not implemented by ICY DOCK in their controller setup, so we needed to power off the unit when it was not going to be utilized.
However, these nuances aside, the ICY DOCK MB559US-1SMB delivers on its promise to provide seamless eSATA support while providing a very good USB 2.0 connection option. It is easy to use and simply does what it is supposed to do all the while looking like an industrial art piece on your desk. We would not hesitate to recommend it at this time. Oh yeah, if you are like us when it comes to handling equipment, we highly suggest a polish cloth or some gloves if you order it in black.
If you are needing to quickly add portable storage to your personal computer system, PVR, or home network then we believe eSATA is the way to do it at this time. Throughout our testing we found that eSATA operation was transparent in the BIOS and in Windows. As far as the system was concerned, the eSATA drive was no different than an internal SATA setup. Although there were a few performance differences in our test suite between our eSATA and internal SATA setups, they were very minor leading us to the conclusion that there is not a true performance difference between the two formats.
Something we never doubted, but it is nice to have data to back up this belief. We believe the minor differences we noticed were probably due to the utilization of the conversion bracket as our test motherboard did not have a native eSATA connection. We did run the same tests on an ASUS P5K-Deluxe board and only in the Sims2 test was there a difference, which was less than two tenths of a second. In fact, in the Nero Recode tests the eSATA setup finished first both times.
We found that ICY DOCK's MB559US-1SMB performed admirably throughout our test sessions. More importantly this enclosure has not failed us in daily use over the course of the last two months. The quality, fit, documentation, and function of the MB559US-1SMB is absolutely superb. Considering the estimated price of $59.99, we expected no less than this type of operation from this external enclosure.
This does not mean all is perfect with the unit. Our noise measurements singled out our primary problem with the enclosure as sounds that were not immediately noticeable with the bare drive became noticeable once the drive was in the enclosure. This problem was expected as ICY BOX made no attempt was to silence the drive inside the enclosure through acoustic padding or drive mounting isolation. That said, to be fair, the ICY DOCK is no better or worse in this respect than any of its competitors we have tested to date. As a reminder, use this enclosure in the vertical position if you have a drive that likes to vibrate such as our Samsung T166 review unit.
As far as day to day operations, we felt constricted having to lug the external power supply around when utilizing the enclosure on different machines but this is true of any eSATA unit. At times the 1m long eSATA cable restricted our ability to locate the drive in a proper position. The inclusion of a 2m long cable would have been appreciated, especially considering the price. One other problem we had was the fact that our drive would not spin down while in the enclosure. It appears that this power savings feature is not implemented by ICY DOCK in their controller setup, so we needed to power off the unit when it was not going to be utilized.
However, these nuances aside, the ICY DOCK MB559US-1SMB delivers on its promise to provide seamless eSATA support while providing a very good USB 2.0 connection option. It is easy to use and simply does what it is supposed to do all the while looking like an industrial art piece on your desk. We would not hesitate to recommend it at this time. Oh yeah, if you are like us when it comes to handling equipment, we highly suggest a polish cloth or some gloves if you order it in black.
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sheh - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
What would be more interesting is an enclosure that includes a 1000 or even just 100Mbit LAN, in addition to USB (and possibly eSATA). It'd be invaluable being able to hook to older computers at faster than (theoretic) 12Mbit and to be accessible to multiple computers on the network.paulwatsonjr - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
On the chart you show that esata is not daisy chain'able (which is true.) However, I thought I remembered seeing something about esata now having some sort of multi-port capability, similar to daisy chaining, that is supported by the latest round of Intel chipsets...Farfle - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
There are a ton of these eSata enclosures out there, and all seem to advertise to do the same thing. They probably all do, for the most part at least. I purchased this model from Beyond Micro:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
The main reasons I chose this over other competitors was the following:
1. On/Off power switch on the front (although, admittedly, kinda useless--not to mention risky--if you're using it as you're system drive, hehe..."Ooops, there goes Windows!")
2. The AC adapter's power plugin is one of those rounded inner/outer types that makes connecting to the enclosure a snap! I always hate trying to allign those S-Video-type power plug-ins to their mates (like on this Icy Dock model).
3. Built-in fan. Some HDs get quite hot, and it's nice to have a fan to keep 'em cool. Also, it appears the top of the Beyond Micro drive has an aluminum cover, which better conducts the heat.
Some bad things about it tho, is installation was kind of unnecesarily complicated. It comes with screws that you need to ensure you utilize, otherwise the cooling effects are minimized, and the noise becomes more apparent.
I'm not trying to "comment" crap here, but just sharing my experience with this particular product type.
*Note - One other thing to think about--that applies to all these eSata enclosures--is the PCI bracket. I bought this drive for use in a Baby-atx Low Profile case (one of those computers that can sit under your monitor...like the good ol' PC days). Unfortunately, none of these enclosures come with a Low-profile bracket. I had to purchase this special one from Addonics for $7 + $7 shipping:
http://www.addonics.com/shopaddonics/default.asp?i...">http://www.addonics.com/shopaddonics/default.asp?i...
$14 dollars for a stupid little metal bracket is a bit absurd, but I had no other choice (if I wanted to keep the setup pretty). So, unless you have an onboard eSata connection and you're using a low profile computer, you're kinda stuck having to purchase this extra peripheral.
Googer - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
How would performance have been differant had a Western Digital Raptor been used instead of a 7200 RPM Samsung over USB? Could you post some benchmarks?Dave Robinet - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
I wouldn't expect the Raptor to come out significantly better, to be honest. The transfer rate of either drive saturates the bus, though I'd imagine the Raptor would improve things slightly in heavy small file access times (certain games, etc). As I mentioned, though, it likely wouldn't be much - looking at the Load Level Time benchmark in the 2nd last page would be a best case scenario, IMO.Gary's a pretty busy man these days, so I'm not sure I'd count on the benchmarks for the Raptor in the USB this time around. Sorry. :)
lennylim - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
Good to find a review of this unit. Now that I started searching around, I see that there are a number of other reviews on it, but I don't check those sites as often as Anandtech.I first saw something similar at a local B&M. It seems to be sold under a few brand names, like Cremax and SohoTank. What sets it apart from others is a hot swappable, removable tray. While you could buy a 250-300GB HDD for the base unit, each additional HDD tray would only set you back $20 or so. If you use external drives for backups, this seems like a better solution than getting individual enclosures for every drive. Advantage : less clutter. Disadvantage : cannot use more than one unit at a time (unless you get more base units, of course).
I really like the idea of an external enclosure with a hot swap tray, but would prefer one that is dampened (less noise / vibration, important when the drive is closer to you) and has active cooling (i.e. a fan). And icing on the cake would be to have USB and firewire ports on it as well. Best bet right now seems be to build one using a mini ITX enclosure. Not having an extra power brick (and an on/off switch that cuts power to the power supply, not just the enclosure) will also be nice.
The short summary about eSATA (how AHCI is necessary for hot swap, etc.) is also useful - something I've been wondering about for a while. Can anyone point to sites with additional info on eSATA, specifically how to add it to an older system without eSATA so that it supports hot swap, any drives that don't play well with hot swap? TIA.
Dave Robinet - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
Thanks for the comments.The simplest way to add eSATA to existing systems is with the use of a controller card (as people often do with SCSI). Which OS are you using?
lennylim - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
Mainly XP (Pro and Home) and Linux, though support for Linux now mainly falls under the "nice to have".strikeback03 - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
My P965 board has eSATA through one of the JMicron controllers, support for this has been in the Linux kernels since 2.6.18. so eSATA works fine in my system (2.6.20 kernel), though it might depend more on support for the controller chip than eSATA in general.ninjit - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - link
Quick question about burst speed.You showed that the enclosure had a much lower Burst speed than when the drive was mounted internally, which you attributed to ICY DOCK's controller only supporting the SATA 150 spec at the moment.
However I just looked at their website for more details, and they specificially mention SATA 300 speed support, and have their own HDTACH results to back it up.
http://www.icydock.com/MB559US-1S_SPEED_TEST.pdf">http://www.icydock.com/MB559US-1S_SPEED_TEST.pdf
Could it be a setting or cable issue that caused your tests to drop down to 150?