Installation:
As mentioned previously, four screws hold the whole MB124E assembly together. Although you do need tools, the design is rather nice. As we will see, the screws pass through the rubber feet and the drive is completed isolated from a solid surface by the rubber extending all the way up to the cover.
With the two halves separated, you can see that the inside of the cover is mostly chromed plastic. This seems like a wasted effort, since the only place that has chrome externally is a small band just above the Firewire and power connections, which will most likely go unnoticed. We can also see the two LEDs and the PCB which is mostly covered in a plastic film for electrical insulation purposes.
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The first thing the next set of images details is that the odd rubber bumper is actually removable, and it reveals a set of gold fingers, as if it were meant to interface with something else. Although the Icy Dock website doesn't reference this feature, the manual does. There is supposedly a "Shuttle Disk Docking Station" available that can install in a 5.25" bay in your computer chassis. With this docking station, you simply remove the rubber bumper, slide the Shuttle Disk in, and you have instant connectivity. I am not sure that this is any easier than simply connecting via Firewire, but the manual indicated that the kit with the docking station also includes a USB cable. Perhaps this Firewire only enclosure becomes more flexible when you buy "MB124ER" (with the docking station), instead of MB124E (the enclosure alone).
The images above also detail the design of the rubber feet also being used to support the drive. As you can see, the PCB that mounts to the drive is actually squeezed onto the rubber feet, which should provide excellent vibration isolation and noise reduction over a design with solid mounts between two hard surfaces.
The below left image shows the back side of the PCB, which features the bulk of the control elements, as well as a large unused area labeled for a "battery". The below right image shows a drive installed. This process couldn't be much easier. Simply slide the drive onto the data/power header at one end of the PCB, and then secure it with the two screws provided. Once that is done, you simply close up the enclosure, and tighten the four screws found in the feet.
