IcyDock ToughArmor 6x1

[Whaler_99]

This is the first of three reviews I will "doing". I emphasize doing as these were done by myself some time ago on another forum but wanted to post them here for the benefit of everyone, especially those getting into storage.

 

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IcyDock ToughArmor - MB996SP-6SB

Full Metal 6 Bat 2.5" SATA HDD & SSD Cage

 

Initial Thoughts:

• Really good packaging
• Very well built, solid feeling cage, all metal
• All metal drive cages, again very solid
• Drive blank filler included on each tray
• Clearly labeled bags with seperated screws
• Well labeled read indicating SATA ports and corresponding drive bays
• Included two SATA to Molex power converters
• Basic instruction manual
• Very nice release mechanism on trays.
• 40mm fan with a Hi, Low and off setting

 

Inside:

• Obviously very tight, not much room for airflow, but can see where holes have been cut to allow for it

 

Installation:

• Very easy to slid in and screw to case
• Mounting holes lines up perfectly
• Enough space that connecting all six SATA and two power cables wasn't an issue
• Some issues with tolerances on the screws. Some drives mounted to the cages still had some movement.

 

LED:

• Front green power LED and orangish activity LED

 

Overall thoughts:

   Initially looking at this unit I was impressed. Top quality and VERY solid. The drive cages as well were very solid and a nice blanking panel on the end of each one in case you don't install a drive in one or more, won't waste air flow. Really like the inclusion of the SATA to Molex power connectors. Nice touch. The unit is very well labeled to map out which connectors on the rear correspond to which trays on the front.

   Now, the down side. I am not sure if it was the tolerances on the length of the included screws or the threading ont he drives themselves, but a few of them were a little loose on the tray, even when I had the screws in as tight as I felt was safe. Now, dealing with 7 and 9.5 mm drives doesn't leave much room for error, so not sure who to blame on the one. Once plugged in though, everything was solid.

   I was worried about that 40mm fan being a little turbine. But upon powering up the unit and set at high, I could hardly hear over the other case fans and 3x5 cage fans I have in the case. Was impressed. I set mine to medium. With some basic monitoring on the drives, temps are normal, but have not run any parity checks to really stress them.

   Not withstand the screw issue, I am duly inpressed by this unit. The ability to fit 6 drives into a single 5.25" slot is nice and the layout in the rear makes for nice management. That with a overall rock solid build and a decent fan leaves me with a great impression of the unit. With the availability of 2TB 9.5mm drives, you could really cram a lot of storage in one of these in that mITX build. Along with a perfect housing for SSD drives.

 

  

[Ahaber]

This looks pretty cool, but I have no idea why I would need 6 2.5 inch drives in a system other than for a NAS. Also I can't tell for sure, but is this a single bay solution? if so that means I could potentially put 5 of these in my current case and have 30 hard drives, although I would have no way to connect them all. Anyway overall I thought that this looked cool and that this is a great review. 

[theelitegamer]

Nice review, pics look nice but just not ''pro'' but hey we start from somewhere (when I say pro, I mean those sexy fingernails)

[elkenrod]

This is one of the reasons why I still like 5.25" bays in modern ATX cases.

 

In terms of storage, 2.5" drives may not have the greatest capacity at the moment, but they are proving to be the most versatile.

 

One thing I would like to see with these products is mounting drives without screws.

 

Good review

[Whaler_99]

This looks pretty cool, but I have no idea why I would need 6 2.5 inch drives in a system other than for a NAS. Also I can't tell for sure, but is this a single bay solution? if so that means I could potentially put 5 of these in my current case and have 30 hard drives, although I would have no way to connect them all. Anyway overall I thought that this looked cool and that this is a great review. 

 

Mostly used for building NAS units. I use two of these on my unRAID server and have 12 x 500GB drives, for close to 6TB of storage.

 

Nice review, pics look nice but just not ''pro'' but hey we start from somewhere (when I say pro, I mean those sexy fingernails)

 

Ya, pro camera guy I am not.

 

This is one of the reasons why I still like 5.25" bays in modern ATX cases.

 

In terms of storage, 2.5" drives may not have the greatest capacity at the moment, but they are proving to be the most versatile.

 

One thing I would like to see with these products is mounting drives without screws.

 

Good review

 

2.5" are growing. You can get 1TB drives pretty cheap and 2TB ones are pretty accessible. Both WD and Seagate have made announcements in the past months regarding some huge capacity expansion coming in 2.5" form factor.

Take a look at my 2x3 cage review, I had one screwless model there with some thoughts on it.