Product Overview
2.5" HDD/SSD Cages
Introducing the MB994IPO-3SB, a rugged full metal dual bay 2.5” SATA/SAS hard drive / SSD mobile rack backplane designed with a Slim Optical Disk Drive (ODD) slot for use in a single external 5.25” bay. It is a device designed with a rugged full metal build commercially designed for: Medical & Military systems, Media servers, IPCs, HTPC, and All-In-One computers, approved & used by Tier 1 companies. Dual 4-pin power connectors are used to ensure secured and consistent power supply to both drives and ODD, whether they are low power consumption 2.5” SATA SSD’s or power hungry 15000 RPM 2.5” SAS drives. Also included is a single 40mm cooling fan with on & off switch to assist the drives running at their optimal temperatures, in even the most intense applications.
Versatility is the Key
The MB994IPO-3SB separates itself from the rest of the MB994 series by the unique Slim Optical Disk Drive slot that is available. The Slim ODD slot uses our EZ-ODD Tray made of rugged full metal, and is easily removable by use of the provided key or via a side latch. This allows system integrators more freedom to better meet their potential client’s needs. The EZ-ODD Tray is compatible with any standard Slim Optical Disk Drive with 12.7mm height.
EZ Slide Mini Trays
The MB994IPO-3SB utilizes our EZ Slide Mini Trays, making drive interchangeability and maintenance completely hassle free. The trays are built using rugged full metal so that they are durable for many lifetimes, while will not weigh you down when transporting your data from system to system. Also featuring a full cage design, the added top drive cover provides added layer of protection while moving the drive. The 2.5" HDD trays are designed to accommodate 5mm, 7mm, 9.5mm, 12.5mm & 15mm 2.5" SAS/ SATA SSD/HDD drives, giving you excellent control of your 2.5" hot swap backplane.
Fan Controller
Fan control further allows the potential system to be accommodated properly depending on the hard drives used. If a SSD is used, fan can be left off and shut off the noise completely from the MB994IPO-3SB. Otherwise, the fan is a great asset to assist in cooling mission critical hard drives.
Excellent Build Quality
The MB994IPO-3SB body is built with aluminum to be able to hold up in the toughest of conditions, provide excellent heat dissipation, and shave as much weight as possible. Included ventilation slots on the front and back for maximum airflow to keep your drives running cool, and an LED is placed on the front of each drive tray to give the user drive status at all times. With the Rugged Full Metal design, the ToughArmor is perfect for industrial and medical devices that may require a flammability rating as the full metal material is considered to already compliant with flammability requirements.
In the Smallest Package Possible
Utilizing its small form factor, the MB994IPO-3SB is perfect for use in gaming PCs, HTPC, small form factor cases with limited external 5.25” expansion bays, or a Slim ODD and hard drives are needed. SMB’s, SI and power users all benefit from the most features, in the smallest form factor possible.
Features
• Fits 2 x 2.5" SATA/SAS hard drive or SSD & 1 x slim optical disk drive (ODD).
• Accommodates hard drives or SSD with up to 15mm Height.
• Supports SATA III & SAS 2.0 interface.
• Full aluminum body construction.
• Full Metal EZ Slide Mini Tray & EZ-ODD Tray system with Full Cage Design.
• 2 x 4 pin power connector to properly power all components.
• Available 40mm cooling fan.
• On & off switch for cooling fan, reduce the power usage and fan noise when using SSD.
• Status LED on Front for each drive.
• Top cover for the tray adds extra drive/ODD protection.
• Perfect for SFF (small form factor) case, IPC, HTPC, NAS, Home Server and All-In-One computers.
• Active Power Technology – Device & fan only powers up if a drive is installed.
ICY DOCK ToughArmor MB994IPO-3SB, 2 Bay 2.5" SAS/SATA HDD & SSD Backplane Cage, Full Metal, Rugged, Anti Vibration is rated
4.8 out of
5 by
6.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
manicgeek from
Brilliant
This 5.25" unit is brilliant. It's allowed me to combine the BD and SSD drives into one bay.
Date published: 2019-03-23
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Whitemonk from
Unique, I think.
A boon for SFF case users. Out with your full size optical drive, in with this item. Pop in a slim optical drive and one or two 2.5" HDDs or SDDs.
I am not a fan of external USB HDDs for backup. This item solves it by providing a removable front mounted disk caddy. This was my main motive for purchasing. I will probably use the other bay for system images.
Date published: 2017-12-29
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Cardare from
Little on the expensive side but high quality, great for space optimization.
I've been wanting this for quite some time but was a bit put off by its high price. Only recently (after having purchased a Corsair Carbide Air 540 which is an excellent case, but low on drive bays) have I actually made the plunge and bought a Pioneer BDR-TD05AS Blu-ray drive with it to replace my older LG Blu-ray drive that took up an entire 5.25" bay to allow me to easily replace the two Sandisk 128Gb SSDs I have for my OS volume in a RAID 0 config when I want to 'test' an upgrade or perform a clean OS install without having to open the "cable chamber" of the 540 to get to my drives.
The Icy Dock MB994IPO-3SB takes any standard slim SATA ODD which is secured by four tiny screws (one of which you'll need a long and thin screwdriver to fit) and can also be replaced just like the hard drives: Slide the caddy out, swap the drive, slide it back in. I do note that although it allows for hotswap, you won't be able to do so unless your SATA/SAS controller also supports hotswap (not all of them do).
This one takes both SATA and SAS HDDs so if you have a RAID controller with SAS and you have the SAS drives to support it there is nothing stopping you from utilizing SAS if needed. If you just want it for SATA though, just plug your SATA cables in to the "PRI" SATA socket and leave the "2ND" socket empty. SATA is the config I chose as I do not yet have a need for SAS in my rig just yet.
Drives slide in and out with ease, and the quality of the unit is great: It is made completely of metal, and build quality is brilliant.
In the box you get the unit itself, 4 screws for the ODD bay, two plastic unlocking keys to allow you to eject the ODD bay (although if you lose them a 2mm screw driver will work), 8 screws for the drive trays, and screws for fitting the unit to your case which have to be very short otherwise you will have trouble fitting the drive trays, although fitting in to the quick-release mechanism of the Corsair Carbide Air 540 I have found no problems (can't say the same about any other case's quick release).
Yes, it's a little on the expensive side, especially without an ODD included, but it is high quality and for space optimization a good investment.
I've added the drive I purchased to use with this (works great) in to my recommendations, as well as the Sandisk SSDs I purchased and use with it too.
Date published: 2014-10-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
iona from
great design and build
I was very pleased to find a caddy that had a slot for a slim dvd drive (like a laptop drive), these dvd drives lock the disk in place,one of our new case builds is robotic rotating 360 degrees on two axis so the drive is upside down sometimes , this caddy fits the design lovely and the build quality and functionality is grade 1
Date published: 2014-04-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
twill from
Compact and efficient for matx build for hot swap boot + slim optical drive
Product worked well in placing in a prodigy M case - space at a premium - so optical drive and 2 ssd bays keeps usage at premium - happy but mounting drives can be a little destructive - scraping whilst getting depth of screws just so; so the unit and drives are secured. Improvement would be a roller or slide caddy; but once in and settled this isn't an issue.
Date published: 2014-03-04
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Enigma from
Nice idea, pretty well executed.
If you need to fit an optical drive and two 2.5" SSD's or laptop drives into a single 5.25" bay then this is for you. I'm not aware there's anything else on the market to do this.
Build quality is pretty good, although the drive trays are made from softish grey SECC steel and you must use the supplied screws to mount the drives into the frame. Same goes for the enclosure itself, problem being that these screws may be too short depending on the thickness of the material your case is made from. In my case the screws were useless, but had some slightly longer ones kicking around. Bear this in mind if you don't have a stock of variable length screws available. Just make sure they are not too long otherwise you could bend some internal components.
On the upside any laptop hard dive will just slide in and work - no SATA or power adapters needed. And the 40mm fans are very quiet.
Date published: 2014-02-19