Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B Review

Today we have another Icy Dock product to look at, a triple bay 2.5” SAS/SATA HDD & SSD Mobile Rack for 3.5” front device bays called the Icy Dock MB993SK-B. At STH we have taken a look at several Icy Dock products with our latest review showing the Icy Dock ToughArmor EX MB491SKL-B. The Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B is perfect for cases that have an external 3.5″ bay that would otherwise sit idle, converting the bay to hold three 2.5″ SSDs. We do not see many rackmount servers with these slots anymore but there are a large number of workstation cases still out there that have provisions for an adapter like this. If your case has an 3.5″ knock out you can add the ToughArmor MB993SK-B Triple Bay 2.5” and install three SSD’s and RAID them up for a nice storage addition to your workstation.

Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B  Key Features

• Full Metal construction, perfect for rugged applications and complies with flammability requirement
• Fits 3 x 7mm 2.5” SATA/ SAS HDD or SSD in a 3.5” floppy drive bay
• Supports SAS or SATA HDD/SSD at 6Gbps and is backwards compatible with SATA 3Gbps drives and hosts (SAS host is required for SAS drives – Single SAS channel
• Individual LED indicators
• Multi-Flow Technology (MFT) – for passive cooling
• Anti-Vibration Technology (AVT) – creates a safe environment for hard drives or SSD
• Active Power Technology (APT) – individual LED only powers up if there is drive installed in each bay
• EMI Grounding – protects hard drives from electrical damage
• Eagle-hook lock system & 2-segment safeguard key lock keeps drives secure within the enclosure.
• Removable tray system for easy maintenance
• Supports SATA 6Gbps and hot swap
• Single floppy 4 Pin to power entire device
• Limited 3-year warranty to complement the typical warranty of a hard drive

Specifications from Icy Dock

• Color: Matte Black
• Drive Fit: 3 x 2.5” SATA III HDD & SSD Up to 7mm height (Supports SAS Single Channel)
• Drive Bay: 1x 3.5” front device bay
• Host Interface: 3 x SATA 7 pin
• Power Input: 1 x Floppy 4 pin power
• Maximum Transfer Rate: Up to 6Gb/sec (Depending on hard drive speed)
• HDD Access Indicator
• Hot Swap: Yes
• Drive Cooling: Airflow vents with metal heat dissipation
• Drive Security: 2 segment key lock
• Structure: Full Metal
• Dimension (L x W x H): 133 x 101.2 x 25.4mm
• Weight: 370g
• Package contents: Device, user manual, screws, keys

Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B Contents

The Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B 2.5” Bay Adapter comes in a simple cardboard retail box, nothing fancy here but it is more than adequate for this kit.

Top of the retail box clearly states what the contents are and has a nice graphic showing just what this drive bay adapter looks like. Specifications for the drive bay adapter are printed on the back of the box.

The retail package comes with the drive bay adapter wrapped in bubble wrap, two small plastic bags with accessories and a printed user manual.

The two plastic accessory bags include locking keys, mounting screws and ID Plugs.

Let’s move on to the ToughArmor MB993SK-B

Looking at the front of the drive bay adapter we can see the key lock if you decided to lock down your system to prevent theft on the left hand side. Moving to the middle we find three EZ Slide Slim trays. Each tray has a push button tray release on the left, push in and to the left to unlock. The right side of each tray has easy to read front LED indicators which will indicate when a drive is ejected (no light), accessed (green), or has failed (red). Active Power Technology (APT) allows each drive LED to be on only when a hard drive is inserted into the enclosu

The back of the adapter has 3x SATA ports that correspond to the order of trays at the front. Power is provided by a 4 Pin FDD power connector. The FDD connector often goes unused so this is a convenient way to power three SSDs.

Air flow ventilation is provided with vents at the top and bottom of the adapter plus additional vent slots at the back to help circulate air out the back which is part of Icy Docks Multi-Flow Technology (MFT) for cooling the bay adapter.

The ToughArmor MB993SK-B includes three EZ Slide Slim trays that include Anti-Vibration Technology (AVT) and EMI Grounding which you can see on the bar going across the front of the tray.

The black spacer at the back is removed when installing a drive.

Installing an SSD into the tray is simply a matter of screwing four mounting screws in to secure the drive. The EZ Slide Slim frame is ridged and easy to work with.

Inserting the drive tray with SSD installed is very smooth and these slide in without issue.

The kit comes with two sets of ID Plus which you can use if you wish. They simply snap into place in one of the middle air vent slots. This helps identify the drives in each slot.

Conclusion

As we have come to expect from Icy Dock products, the ToughArmor MB993SK-B Triple Bay 2.5” Front Device Bay is made of metal and high quality construction makes this a solid product. The EZ Slim Trays support 7mm thick drives which is perfect for SSD’s. Most of the hard drives we have here are at least twice that thick but laptop hard drives should fit this just fine. For about $70-75 street price, the unit can add a lot of functionality to a new or existing workstation. The solid construction of these adapter makes this a nice addition to any case that can fit an adapter like this.