Introduction

Today we are going to take a look a one of the new products by Icy Dock, MB876SK-B. MB876SK-B is a hard drive enclosure which supports 3.5" SATA I and SATA II hard drive. This particular unit is designed to fit any standard 5.25" device bay. If you have server or planning to build a multiple OS computer the MB876SK-B might be a solution for you. What makes this model great is that the hard drive tray is compatible with some other models by Icy Dock. Lets take a look at MB876SK-B in depth and see if this model stands a chance in the market or not.

About the Product

Following information is taken from the Icy Dock website.

Product Supports

* In order to HOT-SWAP with ICY DOCK enclosures, please make sure your motherboard supports HOT-SWAP function. Otherwise, you might not able to use the HOT-SWAP function. (Please check the motherboard user manual to verify the HOT-SWAP function) * When using the enclosure, if the drive does’t show in “My Computer”, there might be two issues. 1. You are probably using a brand new hard drive. You can initialize, partition, and format unrecognized drives using Disk Management. Please click HERE to view the instructions to initialize, partition, and format unrecognized drives using Disk Management. 2. Your drive letter may be over lab with other drive by the system. Please go to the Disk Management and go “Change Drive Letter and Paths…” and select another letter for the drive. Please click HERE to view the instructions to “change the drive letter and paths”

Available Colors: Black

Interchangeable tray with:

Product Description: Once again, ICY DOCK has set the standard for hard drive enclosures. Introducing the MB876SK, an internal enclosure, and the first single drive bay mobile rack to feature our successful slim removable tray system. This drive sports an aluminum body for optimal cooling and maximum durability, fits all standard 5.25” desktop bays, and features a lock to keep your precious data safe and secure. To enhance its cooling efficiency, a 40mm warm air outtake fan is built into the rear of the unit to ensure that your drive will maintain an optimal temperature, thus increasing the life and dependability of the drive. The tray of MB876SK could be interchangeable with any of our compatible systems, including the entire MB559 Series, the MB561 external multi-Bay, and our MB453/454/455 Series of internal multi-bay enclosures. The handle & rail of the tray is constructed of aluminum, providing a strong, durable, and lightweight interface, given that the dependability and versatility that you demand in your computer hardware. Small business owners, photographers, video editors, these are just a few examples of people who would most benefit from the MB876SK. Using this alongside our MB559 external enclosure, a simple press of a button will mobilize your data, and allow you to move from the office computer to your home or laptop, or drop it off at a colleague’s studio to put the finishing touches on your newest film. But it is not just for professionals in the work place. A student off at college who cannot bring his desktop home over a holiday break will have the ability to slide the drive out of his desktop and plug it when he safely arrives at his home. The enclosure is compatible with most standard 3.5’’ SATA I & II drives, as well as all 2.5’’ SSD and SATA drives with MB882 2.5’’ to 3.5’’ HDD Converter (optional). This allows for convenience and versatility and will save you time and money from having to buy a separate 2.5’’ hard drive enclosure.

Suggested Applications Storage drives expansion and enabling drive maintenance to industrial PC, server, and various storage system applications.

Product Features: * Device holds single 3.5" SATA I or II drive and fits any standard 5.25" device bay. * Removable tray system and hot swap capability offers convenient solution for --multi-drive exchangeability & maintenance. * Drive trays are interchangeable with ICY DOCK MB559, MB561, MB453, MB454, MB455 Series. * Safeguard key lock function keeps data secure within the enclosure. * Aluminum body construction provides superior heat dissipation. * 40mm rear warm air outtake fan ensures an optimal cooling environment. * Vented front panel allows for maximum air circulation.

Models & Specifications

ICY DOCK MB876SK-B 3.5" SATA Hot-Swap Aluminum Mobile Rack HDD Enclosure - drive tray interchangeable with MB559/561/453 series Item Number: Black MB876SK-B Internal Host 7 pin SATA Drive Fit 3.5" SATA I / II HDD Drive Bay 5.25” Transfer Rate up to 3Gb/sec. (depending on hard drive speed) Insert & Extract connection Via 15 pin direct hard drive connection Structure Aluminum body w/ partial plastic Drive Cooling 40 mm rear outtake fan w/ aluminum heat dissipation LED Indication Device Power, HDD Access LED Display Color Device Power: Green, HDD Access: Orange Drive Security 2 segment key lock Dimension (L x W x H) 7.24" x 5.84" x 1.65" Weight 1.14 lbs

Now that we got basic information out of the way, lets take a closer look at MB876SK-B.

Closer look

Box Front		Box Back

Icy Dock has been setting standards for an external enclosures for a very long time now and to be honest, every time we have to review one of their products it gives us a great pleasure. Icy Dock tends to bring exact and very formal information to the buyer though its innovative designs of the product and the actual shipping box.

Features		MB876SK-B Model

On both sides of the shipping box there are numerous markings specifying what kind of product this is and what model. On the back side of the box we quickly found a features and specifications section which describes the specifications for both MB876SK-B and MB876IK-B models. Since Icy Dock is an international company, we found a section on the back which gives a summary of the unit in many different languages.

Two Models		Top of the box

As mentioned earlier, we are looking at MB876SK-B model and this is also noted by a black dot next to the one of the sides of the packaging box. From the top of the box you can clearly see some of the signature features of MB876SK-B.

Protective bag		Out of the box

The actual MB876SK-B unit is coated in a protective foam bag to keep it from scratches and damages while transporting the unit. There aren't many accessories included with the MB876SK-B, just a pair of lock keys and few screws to mount this in to a 5.25" slot. Lets not forget the instructional manual :) In previous reviews, i have learned my lesson, that you should always read your instructional manual first prior do the installation.

Front Shot		Rear Shot

The front of the unit is very much self explanatory. We quickly found a key entry for lock and unlock feature of MB876SK-B, an power led and hard drive activity led. The hard drive tray is to the left of the lock and looked very stylish for the design. From the back of the unit you can clearly see SATA connector and molex connector for power. On the top of the molex connector there are two jumpers for power and hard drive access. MB876SK-B has a build in 40 mm fan, which helps to move hot air around out of the enclosure and keeps your hard drive nice and cool.

Side Shot		Opened Tray

On the side of MB876SK-B we found standard 3.5" mounting holes. Please advise your case manual on how to install MB876SK-B properly. The hard drive tray is easily removable by unlocking the front leaver and pulling the hard drive tray out of the shell. The handle of the MB876SK-B tray is made out of the aluminum so we do not have to worry about it breaking on us while trying to remove or install the hard drive.

Size comparison		Installed in the caddy

The whole units is just a little bigger that the actual hard drive. It is probably the same size as a cd rom drive. Installation of the hard drive was very easy and fast. Just a couple of screws on both sides of the hard drive caddy and we were all set to go.

Inserted in to the drive		Ready to go

Again, the installation was very easy and hardly took any time at all. The stylish handle and the lock of the hard drive caddy is very much beneficial.

Installed

When we have installed the MB876SK-B in our testing rig and powered it on, we instantly saw a power led being lit. Now that we got the picktionary out of the way, lets take a look at some testing data and form our conclusion.

Testing

Our standard tests include a HD Tach performance benchmarking and Sandra benchmarking. Today we are going to be using our Western Digital 400 GB hard drive for performing these tests.

HD Tach 8 Mb vs 32 Mb SATAII

The first test we have performed was HD Tach. The 8Mb vs 32Mb test over sata connection showed us that the burst speed of hard drive was close to 131.9 MB/s and the average read speed was 56.8 MB/s. These speeds are pretty close to a maximum speed of SATA.

Sandra Benchmarking

Sandra benchmarking showed us the Drive index of 45.42 MB/s and the access time of 14ms. In com pairing our drive to some of the other Western Digital drives, our drive performed very well with the competition.

Conclusion

Well what can i say, another well designed product by Icy Dock. If you are looking for a hot swappable enclosure that will perform to its best and provide you with an acceptional support in your every day activities MB876SK-B might be it. The ease of the installation and operation of MB876SK-B makes a pleasurable experience to work with. There is one important factor that you have to keep in mind. Icy Dock uses the same type of hard drive sled in many other products so using MB876SK-B with other type of enclosures from Icy Dock becomes possible. Please refer to the top of this review for all comparable models. The performance of MB876SK-B is very well stands with some of the other hard drive enclosures. I do strongly believe that MB876SK-B will be a great addition to the Icy Dock family. A great product. Highly recommended! It gives me a great pleasure to award MB876SK-B a highest reviewing grade 10/10!!!

Could be purchased at NewEgg.com Buy.com and Amazon.com

Some pros we found:

Easy to install and use

Not a bad design

Compatible with other models

Provides acceptional speed on read and write times.

Some cons we found: