External Drive Enclosure

SUMMARY: Compact package for a 2.5″ portable drive enclosure

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The good guys at Tagan were nice enough to send a sample of their external hard drive enclosure IB-290 to test out. This houses a 2.5″ SATA drive with USB and eSATA output ports.

Kit

Key Features

  • Aluminum sleeve, screwless HD mounting
  • USB and eSATA data transfer
  • USB, USB power and eSATA cables
  • Vinyl carrying case and drive opening tool
  • Power and HD activity LEDs

The little tool that likes like a can opener is used to open the case so you can load a drive. The tool is used to engage two arms which hold the back of the unit in place:

Back

Once you pull out the arms…

Back Arms

the back with the PCB pulls out:

PCB

Mount the drive to the PCB, slip it into the case, snap the arms back in place and you’re done.

Performance Test

I tested the Tagan’s IB-290 with a Toshiba 2.5″ SATA drive (MK6034GSX, 60 GB, 5400 rpm) with the following results:

eSATA Port

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OK file transfer speed – reflects this drive’s specifications. Note that you need the USB power cable to run the drive using the eSATA port.

USB Port

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Typical USB – great for ubiquity, not so great for large files transfers.

CONCLUSIONS

Tagan’s Icy Box IB-290 is a nice, compact package for a 2.5″ portable drive enclosure.

  1. External Drive Enlosure
  2. Kingwin 5.25″ Aluminum External Drive Enclosure
  3. Mapower Warps Pocket 2.5″ External Enclosure
  4. Mapower Warps 3.5″ External Enclosure
  5. Kingwin Jet External Enclosure

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