Power Consumption

Surprisingly the Icy Box actually uses a watt more than the two disk QNAP when both are powered without drives, this is despite the QNAP's larger memory and a faster CPU. The IB-NAS4220-B does offer a disk spin-down option as well, and its default is set to 10 min of no usage although this can be changed. This is useful to not only save power, but also protect the life of your drives (for example, when left on overnight). Unfortunately though, the fan also doesn't spin-down with them so the device remains just as noisy.

Value

The only direct competitor is the Thecus N299, but it's about £10 more expensive and the plastic box is quite ugly in comparison. Both use the same hardware inside, seem to have generally the same options and even the same 40mm fan to cool two drives. The only advantage the Thecus has is its dual Gigabit LAN, instead of just the one which the Icy Box features; not that we care because there's no real need for two if we're honest.

For more hardcore NAS boxes like the QNAP TS-209 or Thecus N2100 we'd be dropping at least twice the cash and in our opinion unless those extra features are really, really needed it's just not worth it. We use a D-Link DNS-323 and it works great for our basic office storage needs, but it does no more than the Icy Box except for drive status email alerts. However, that feature alone jacks the price up and it's £50 more expensive.

For just over £200, you can get hold of the Icy Box plus two terabyte hard drives - that's not much cash at all for an entire self contained build.

Final Thoughts

For SOHO or personal and family use, the Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B is pretty nippy and plentiful for the majority of people who are after just a plain two disk NAS. With 2TB hard disks just released, having a potential of 4TB at your disposal should be enough for all but the most prolific porn data collectors. It's a bit noisy, so in a particularly quiet room you'll certainly notice it is on, but it's no better or worse than the alternatives and it still looks great, works great and for the price we'd certainly opt to get one.

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• 9/10

Score Guide