IcyDock ToughArmor 6x1 Cage Review

[Whaler_99]

Just got a new cage to add to the farm, so of course, here is the review.

 

IcyDock ToughArmor - MB996SP-6SB

Full Metal 6 Bay 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 sperated 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 scre 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.

 

Images (link to full gallery

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[FreeMan]

It's been 7 years, is this still in your server?

If so, how have temps been?

How has it held up to drive changes?

Would you buy it again? (Do they still make it?)

[Whaler_99]

No, I have not used it for a while. It was more of a gimmick if you have a bunch of laptop drives having around. Sure you could fit 6 laptop/2.5 drives in one slot, but it then ended up using 6 SATA ports. Performance isn't great on these drives and space... even now a 2TB laptop drive is big... Temps though were always fine for me.

So, if you have 6 laptop drives and 6 spare SATA ports and no way to hook up another drive? Ok... but think, even with an adapter, you could put one 10TB 3.5 drive in the same bay, and would be better overall.

[Spitko]

As a datapoint for future generations, I use the 8x1 version of this dock ( MB998IP-B ). The build quality and physical design is identical, but there are some minor differences in the back:
- Two MiniSAS HD plugs instead of SATA.
- Dual fans
- SATA power plugs instead of molex.

I only use it for SATA SSDs, but haven't had any issues with heat in light duty use. It's worth noting that the bays here are NOT tall enough to fit most larger 2.5" HDDs, at least my 1TB doesn't fit. I believe they officially specify a 7mm limit, but I'd have to double check.

Durability has been great through a bunch of swaps, and the fans are quiet enough that I can't hear them over the other fans in my system. The bay latches are all metal and haven't shown any signs of wear.

Honestly my only complaint is that it's too expensive, but there's just not a lot of competition.