Today I will be reviewing an external HDD enclosure from Icy Box called “IB-318STU3-B” (wonderful name). It has a USB 3.0 interface which should boost the data transfer speeds significantly, at least according to the specs. Only months ago, the third revision of the USB standard appeared. I’ve seen it called both “USB 3.0” and “USB SuperSpeed”.

 

What is clear is that the new version includes several improvements compared to USB 2.0. The most important update is of course the increase of the data transfer speed (theoretical) to 4.8Gbps (600MB/s) compared to USB 2.0’s 480Mbps (35MB/s). This is really a huge difference.

 

Another important change is the maximum power output of USB 3.0 of 900mA (500mA in USB 2.0), which will allow USB 3.0 ports to power a number of devices and accessories to laptops. In real world, this means fewer AC adapters to accessories like external harddrives, notebook cooling pads etc…

Review of Icy Box IB-318STU3-B USB3 HDD enclosure