Icy Dock MB994IPO-3SB Slim ODD + 2x 2.5" HDD Multi Bay Review

Just about everyone is into high definition. A full length 1080p movie can take roughly 25-30GB when uncompressed. Even when compressed, they still round out to about 8-9GB. With the compression, however, there is a quality loss. Movie purists will keep the quality as best as possible. Many HTPCs and NAS have a problem, storage space. The cases usually fit only a single 3.5" or 2.5" drive to conserve space and keep the system as small as possible. Even the biggest 3TB HDDs will only hold around 100 fully ripped 1080p movies. Most HTPC cases feature a single 5.25" external bay. This requires the loss of an optical disk drive for storage expansion. Icy Dock has a solution for this problem.

The Icy Dock MB994IPO-3SB opens up small form factor systems to more storage without ODD sacrifice. The MB994IPO-3SB combines two 2.5" HDD racks and a slim ODD bay in a single 5.25" bay configuration. The MB994IPO-3SB uses a full aluminum metal construction. The HDD bays support SAS 2.0 and SATA III drives. Icy Dock installed a 40mm cooling fan on the rear that uses an on/off switch and features active power technology. The fan will only run when a drive is installed. The MB994IPO-3SB is powered by two Molex connections. Installed on the front are status LED indicators for each drive.