Akasa Integral External Enclosures

Akasa Integral Fusion

The last of the 3 enclosures we received is the Integral Fusion. The Integral Fusion is the only physically different enclosure of the 3.5” drive Integral line of products, but the box size and design remains the same, with only the imprinted picture and data changed. Inside the box you will find a much smaller and convenient power supply than the one we saw bundled with the other Integral units, a single USB cable, proper HDD mounting screws, a plastic transparent base for placing the enclosure vertically, a mini-CD with drivers and a well written manual.

The Integral Fusion is quite different from the rest of the Integral enclosures. It is bulkier, with an aluminum body, plastic faceplate and rubber strips at its sides. Although the Integral Fusion is symmetric and stackable with other similar enclosures, it is not perfectly stackable with the rest of the Integral series enclosures, although it will be fine if placed at the bottom of the stack due to its larger size. At the front of the Integral fusion you will find a card reader and a back-up button. The card reader is a good feature since memory cards are very popular these days and there always be use for a card reader attached to a PC. The back-up button is the prime feature of this enclosure though. By installing and setting up the back-up software provided with the Fusion in your PC, you can back-up your data by simply clicking this button. This is a practical feature for keeping a regular back-up of your sensitive data, especially useful to businesses.

At the rear of the Integral Fusion you will find four ports (three USB and a power plug), a simple rocker on/off switch and a fan speed control rheostat. A small area is ventilated in order to allow the air pushed by the fan to exit towards the rear of the enclosure. Although the fan inside the Integral Fusion is nearly silent even at top speed, you can slow it down even further. A single HDD does not need excessive cooling. Technically, most HDDs can work 24/7 without any cooling at all. The Integral Fusion can be connected only through an USB cable, but also offers two USB hub ports at its rear, allowing other USB devices like flash drives or USB drives to be connected to it.

Opening up the Integral Fusion is a little more complicated. First, you have to remove the rubber strips from the sides of the enclosure. The Fusion does not open from the rear as it is common with HDD enclosures but the top comes off instead, so then you have to remove the 4 screws which hold the top plate of the enclosure in place. Finally you can place a HDD inside the enclosure, secure it with the provided screws and reassemble it. You can install only IDE HDDs in the Fusion.