Monday, December 26, 2011

Icy Dock Dual Bay RAID Enclosure Review (MB662USEB-2-1)

The Icy Dock MB662USEB-2-1 is a simple two-bay enclosure designed to be used in RAID0/1, JBOD or Concatenation modes with 3.5-inch hard drives. The enclosure offers a quad-interface, allowing users to connect via FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0 and eSATA. In the box Icy Dock includes everything you need to get rolling (except the drives); power adapter and cables for each interface are standard equipment. 
The MB662USEB-2-1 is aimed at users who need either high transfer speeds or data redundancy through use of various RAID modes such as RAID0 and RAID1. By supplying either their own 3.5-inch desktop hard drives, users can customize the RAID array for their individual use. Those wanting a safe way to protect their data with a wide range of connections will enjoy the protection of RAID1 and the quad-interface compatibility. Those looking for high transfer speeds will like the RAID0 capabilities and the eSATA/FW-800 connections for fast data transfers.
Based around the Oxford 946 ARM chipset, the enclosure supports hardware RAID, which gives a big boost in speed or redundancy without impacting CPU usage on the host system. The MB662USEB-2-1 will be available starting December 7th for a suggested retail price of $185. It's worth noting that while many consumer-grade hard drives will work in this enclosure, Icy Dock recommends enterprise-grade drives, or drives that otherwise support TLER, which prevents the drives from falling out of a RAID array when they encounter an error....full review at Storage Reviews

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