ICY Dock MB559UEA-1S: A Worthy Upgrade to the MB452MK?

Introduction

We have looked at a few of ICY Dock’s hard drive enclosures.  Bjorn3d’s readers should be quite familiar that ICY Dock makes some cool looking enclosures that also give good performance.   The very first ICY Dock enclosure that we have looked is their MB452MK, an external enclosure that takes single SATA hard drive.  Today, we are going to take a look at ICY Dock’s MB559UEA-1S, a new single SATA hard drive enclosure.

The MB559UEA-1S we have received functions very similar to the MB452MK that was reviewed.  Rather than saying that it’s a brand new product, I think this enclosure is more like an update to the existing one.  There are few changes that ICY Dock has done to the new enclosure.  The new MB559UEA-1S uses native SATA connector instead of the converter that was used in the older enclosure.  Also, the new enclosure has been significantly slimmed down and has much better design than the previous product.  It is also much stylish than previous one.

Here are a few shots comparing the MB452MK MB559UEA-1S.  They will give you some idea the physical differences between the two enclosures.

Let's start by looking at the specification and features of the MB559UEA-1S:

Product Features:

• Host: Plug & Play USB 2.0 + eSATA combo
• Drive Fit: Hot Swappable 1 x 3.5" SATA I or II
• Multi-drive exchangeability & maintenance capabilities with simple removal of drive tray
• Fan-less operation with aluminum body cooling & protection plus fine mirror finish exterior
• Horizontal/Vertical positioning options with extendable foot stands for vertical lay
• Built in security slot for security cable kit

Specification: