Resolved: Mobile storage solution

As it turns out, the cause of the problem was overclocking. I set memory timings to SPD and clocked the CPU back to default 1.8 GHz. I'm not sure what exactly is causing the malfunction but I intend to find out in the near future. Anyway, the Icy Box is back in business.

Follow-up: Mobile storage solution

As it turns out, the Icy Box isn't all that great as one would expect. The thing is, it works fine on my office computer and my laptop. However, it doesn't work with my desktop PC at home. Well, it worked the first time but then it had a seizure and all I got from it afterwards were spooky clicking noises. The disk doesn't get recognized, making it effectively useless (still works on previously mentioned PCs). I'm thinking there could be a problem with the motherboard which is an oldish Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe. On the other hand, the rest of the USB devices I use with this motherboard work flawlessly, which is kind of funny. These include a mouse, a printer, a smart card reader, a flash drive and a webcam. Weird, eh? So I figure there could be a compatibility issue with the Cypress (7C68300A) controller in the Icy Box. If anyone reading this blog knows the solution, please let me know via comments. Thanks.

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Mobile storage solution

My latest toy is a stylish external case Icy Box IB-250U-R used with a Western Digital Scorpio WD800VE 80GB hard drive. The disk drive is reasonably fast, starts-up almost instantly and doesn't make much noise. Infact, I could hardly tell the disk is working by sound alone. What I particularly like about these types of cases (looks and size aside) is that you don't need a power adapter. You do however need two available USB ports since the unit gets power from the second USB port (the HDD wouldn't start-up without it). You also get a practical leather wallet which is great for the case itself but isn't big enough to fit both USB cables as well. Initially I wanted to get a 4GB USB flash drive but I'm glad I didn't because the drive will also be used for system backups. All in all, I'm happy with it for now.