This impressively new MB561US-4S 4 Bay Series is built with single e-SATA and single USB connection. A single e-SATA port provides easy direct single connection and flexible options for advance user. With the port multiplier e-SATA connection, you can either connect to port multiplier JBOD adapter to access four drives via e-SATA connection, or connect to the port multiplier RAID controller card for the RAID solution. This is convenient for those who do video editing through Mac or PC and wants configurations of RAID 0 (Striping) settings for massive transfer speed. Additional USB connection is for quick hook up to any computer system (especially to laptops), which allow user to access up to four hard drives at the same time, best at all there?s no driver installation required. This allows users to organize their music, photos, and work data under one enclosure and it?s perfect for backup solution. The enclosure takes up to four SATA drives, up to 1 terabyte per each drive. To power the enclosure, it uses a direct AC outlet, perfect to use it anywhere without having to deal with any adapters. The lightweight construction design protects hard drives with a layer of solid aluminum. The enclosure has a detachable 80mm ball bearing rear fan and uses a built-in fan-less power supply, making it a quiet device. The four hot-swappable drive trays offer great freedom of choice in expanding your storage solution and multi-drive exchangeability for easy maintenance.
Main Features
I was looking for a cost-effective, yet high-quality external eSATA enclosure with port multiplier (PM) capability to use with my Mac Pro. The Mac is extremely quiet, a real pleasure to use for long periods. I wanted an enclosure that would be likewise whisper quiet and was drawn to the Icy Dock because of its fanless power supply and (removeable) ball-bearing fan. I have tested the unit with and without the ball-bearing fan attached in order to determine the noisiness of the fan. The fan does add noise, but only a small amount of medium pitch (non-objectionable frequency) sound. It is louder than the Mac Pro, however, but nothing like the obnoxious fan in my Promise Technology 4-bay NAS. The spinning hard drives are the main contributors to noise. I'm using 4 Seagate 1.5 TB drives, which are relatively quiet, but I suspect the Samsung SpinPoint F1s are even more so. If noise suppression is your overriding concern, find the quietest drives possible and remove the ball-bearing fan during winter months. Overall I'm very pleased with this product. The aluminum construction is wonderful, and the unit stays cool. I removed one of the Seagate hard drives after 30 minutes of use (with the fan attached) and found the drive to be just slightly warm to the touch. (The ambient temperature in my home office is 68 degrees F right now.) P.S. If you buy one before the end of February, you are eligible for a free eSATA PCIe card with PM capability for both Mac and Windows. See the Icy Dock website for mail-in form or click here: http://www.icydock.com/mir/february2009_promotion_final.pdf
Customer Review: Great little expansion enclosure
I bought this to add 4TB of storage to a Mac Pro via an eSata connection. Pros: -Assembly is simple. -Box is good looking. -Box runs cool. -Sata drives are hot swappable. -Box is relatively quiet (see below). Cons: -Small amount of fan noise. This product met my need at a good price point. Recommended!
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