ICY Dock 5.25″ Hot Swap Drive Caddy for 2.5″ and 3.5″ Drive Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. ICY Dock Hot Swap Drive Caddy4. Testing Methodology and Performance5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

The design of the ICY Dock Hot Swap Drive Caddy is much like any other 5.25″ optical disk drive. The front of the device is simple with both power buttons being located next to each drive, so that it is obvious which is the 3.5″ power button and the 2.5″ power button.

We weren't that impressed with the eject mechanisms as they required substantial force to be applied to the button. The problem was compounded with the 2.5″ drive which required such force that the drive would shoot out a good few inches when it finally released.

We would hope the company will fine tune and enhance this eject mechanism as it is poorly implemented. Additionally, we feel the overall build quality is a little poor, for instance the 3.5″ eject button felt a little flimsy, wobbling around when touched.

The two power/activity lights are a good addition, although the top light is slightly hidden from view underneath the 3.5″ eject button unless you happen to have your chassis at desk height. This seems a slight oversight by the design team, but is not crucial to everyday operation.

The performance of the device is good, as we recorded transfer speeds of well over 300 MB/s. That said this is a SATA III certified product and should allow a maximum theoretical speed of around 500 MB/s when paired with the Kingston HyperX SSD.  When used with a quality 3.5″ mechanical drive the performance was as good as we would expect.

We verify that this device is ideal for a partnership with a larger mechanical storage drive, rather than the latest, fastest Solid State drives.

Overall, this is a very functional addition to any computer system. It allows the user to quickly and easily switch HDD's and SSD's around, and while we can't see ourselves using it for boot drives, it is brilliant for use with backup drives or even for setting up a HDD or SSD for a laptop or second computer.

Turning to price, this device will only set you back £25.92 from Amazon.co.uk.  This is certainly good value for money.

Pros

• Decent performance.
• Allows hot swapping of 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives.
• Very practical device.
• Good value for money.

Cons

• Not an ideal pairing for the latest SATA 6Gbps Solid State drives.
• Eject mechanism requires high force.
• Build quality a little questionable.

Kitguru says: It does the job with no fuss, a simple but very practical addition to a computer system.

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