4 Bay 2.5" NVMe U.2 SSD Mobile Rack For External 5.25" Bay - ICY Dock ToughArmor MB699VP-B

[larryexchange]

I have been using different types of ICY DOCK mobile racks for long time. Among them, ToughArmor series is my favorite. Here is MB994SP-4SB-1 in my DELL T7810 workstation.

When NVMe drive and U.2 interface are getting more and more popular, I was curious why there was not NVMe mobile rack for desktop PC just like the above SAS mobile rack. Finally ICY DOCK release ToughArmor MB699VP-B. Here is official web page.
MB699VP-B_NVMe Solutions_2.5" HDD/SSD CAGES_ICY DOCK manufacturer Removable enclosure, Screwless hard drive enclosure, SAS SATA Mobile Rack, DVR Surveillance Recording, Video Audio Editing, SATA portable hard drive enclosure

Although I could not find out detailed product review, I decided to give it a try. Since T7810 has built-in PLX, I use a cheap ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 card and four MSI M.2/U.2 adapters.


As for cable, I just use the standard mini SAS HD cables (SFF-8643 to SFF-8643).


Here are MB994SP-4SB-1 (Left) and MB699VP-B (Right) side by side.




I used MB699VP-B to replace MB994SP-4SB-1.


Then plug in two U.2 drives




Power on T7810. As you could see it's hard to tell which is SAS mobile rack and which is NVMe mobile rack from the front panel.


In device manager, two U.2 NVMe SSDs have been recognized successfully.


Overall I am happy with the ICY NVMe mobile rack. But there are two issues.

• The mobile rack comes with 2 Fans but the temperature of NVMe SSDs are still pretty high (>50 Centi-degrees).
• One of the two fans doesn't work. I don't have time to troubleshoot it yet.

 

[StevenDTX]

Very cool!

 

[TomUK]

Great post - I've been considering getting one of these but it's hard to find people talking about or using them, so thanks!

 

[azev]

Have you done any benchmark to see if there's any performance degradation at all ?? I am also looking to get something similar for when I upgraded my pc and your post helps alot, thx.

 

[Myth]

Are they Hot Swapable?

 

[Netwerkz101]

The mobile rack comes with 2 Fans but the temperature of NVMe SSDs are still pretty high (>50 Centi-degrees).

The pic above pretty much tells the story.
I don't recall ever seeing any similar enclosures where the fan(s) do nothing more than cool
the back plane/PC Board.

It would seem that it would be better to open up the sides/top/bottom with vent holes/slots.

 

[azev]

my concern of using a hot swap bays in a standard case have always been drive temperature and sometime noise.
One thing I do miss though with NVME drives as such is drive activity light, i wonder if activity light works on these.