ICY DOCK 2 Bay 2.5 SAS/SATA HDD/SSD Mobile Rack for External 3.5” Bay | ExpressCage MB742SP-B

My first impression upon lifting the package was how heavy it was; the construction of the chassis is solid and impressive. The trays and latches are ABS plastic; however, the quality is above-average. The tool-less nature of the trays is appreciated, although the drives can be more securely attached with included screws; if I were using mechanical drives instead of SSDs I probably would have gone with that option just to dampen the possible vibration. The only small issue I had with installation was having to re-seat the trays/drives with some extra force in order to get the SATA connectors on the drive to properly seat with the backplane; I don't believe I'd use this in a hot-swap scenario for that reason, but your mileage may vary. The indication/activity LEDs are a nice touch, work perfectly (my drives are plugged into a simple SATA controller running on unRAID) and are not obnoxiously bright; just a nice mellow blue. One possible hiccup (which did not apply to me given my configuration) that folks may encounter; the two SATA data ports (the chassis is powered with a single SATA power connector) have no indication (either on the chassis or in the brief instruction manual) as to which data port maps to which drive. If you are modding this chassis into an existing RAID array where disks must be re-connected to the same previous ports, you may need to experiment to find the right order. Otherwise, would recommend this chassis to anyone.

Works great. I use one in a 5.25 to 3.5" opening where there was a DVD player. It works and is helpful since I have a case that is awkward to open and this gives me access to both SSD's

I'm giving this product 4 out of 5 stars ONLY because I have not given it much use. The bay adapter is the same size as an optical drive bay with the standard placed screw mounting holes on the sides which makes this an ideal buy for a variety of desktop tower cases. The enclosure is made out of metal and the two 2 1/2" drive bay "drawers" are made from high quality plastic or polymer or something like that. They both have an easy way to securely mount a 2 1/2" drive to the tray and the screws are good quality metal as well. The way the full-sized hard disk mounts is great as well. Everything fits snugly and allows for another device above or below if there is one available in your build. Also the cable mounting points are positioned pretty good where they still allow for the use of 90-degree SATA data cables for instance. I have seen some enclosures that I liked very much in my days but the position where they installed the power and data ports on the rear caused issues when dealing with another full-size bay (5 1/4") above or below it. I'm not sure if I would be able to offer any comments now or into the future regarding the durability of the 2 2 1/2" tray's because the installation I built was not meant to be changed a lot, but from the looks of the bay drawers and the several times I have swapped out different drives in them have been a pleasurable and uncomplicated experience for me. The spring loaded mechanism that opens the trays seems built very well. I have been cautious and may even use the word "delicate touch" when installing the trays as well because I don't "slam my stuff around" treating it roughly. However, I would be interested in reading about someone whom may have picked up 2 identical SSD's at a decent cost and giving the 2 2 1/2" drive bay drawers a durability and rough testing trial. I still favor old fashioned 7200 RPM Hard drives because of their gigabyte to dollar appeal, but the performance of running the operating system on an SSD of adequate size is equally nice. I've come to realize an SSD of roughly 480GB to 512GB is plenty for a power user... plenty of room for the OS and updates and your favorite 3rd party apps like Google Earth, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Handbrake, Freac, Infrarecorder, etc. For people whom don't store a ton of stuff locally on the OS drive, it's plenty. If your into ripping a ton audio CD's and stuff like that then by all means, plan ahead and get a 2TB SSD or above and consider running them in a RAID 1 config or keep backups. Overall, I am highly pleased with the accessory I picked up and hope it will provide me some modest pride if I'll ever be able to "show it off" to someone whom may be impressed and into custom builds. I'd buy another if I needed it for a personal or a for sale build, but I do want to give this drive bay a decent amount of criticism before I say much more. But, again, overall, this drive bay adapter does what it's supposed to do and kind screams "I'm dependable - trust me, I'll keep your precious terabytes safe" One thing to note and worthy of adding. The two SSD trays are not "lockable" so if you plan to use this somewhere security is a concern, I'd recommend to NOT buy this and look for one that has locking bays. And It might be worthy to note that this brand, ICY DOCK, seems to be a premium computer brand that is backed by a team that actually cares about the products it offers. This build in a bedroom and, well, I don't have many visitors in my bedroom these days so I'm not too worried about security. Anyone whom may not be worried about security as critical should HIGHLY consider this product, in my opinion.

Perfect 2 bay drive for my spare SSD storage.

Everything was fine.

I like these ok, but they won't hot swap on my computer. I can hot swap them in and out, but the computer won't recognize one swapped in until I reboot. I'm using Linux Mint so maybe that's the culprit, but in my 20+ years of using Linux, it usually recognizes hardware (that it actually supports) better than Windows, so I don't know. It works, but I'll try one of the "cheap" ones next time.

Arrived timely and as advertised. New, works well. Happy with purchase.

Update 2: Icy Dock returned the Item today. they had it for about 2 weeks including mail travel time. They just sent a new one, plugged in and works. Bumping up to 4 stars and if it lasts it will be 5 stars later. Hope it lasts. UPDATE: Heard back from Icy Dock within 2 days that the return was authorized. Have mailed it back, USPS tracking says they got it but no word from them (4days that they have had it) yet. Item installed easy and worked fine for just over 1 month, then died. Contacted seller and the only thing they said was "Over 30 days, contact manufacturer." Very poor (None) customer service. Could have provided a link or other information. Will not purchase from them again. Now, on my own I found the online RMA form for Icy Dock and have filled it out. Their website says 2 year warranty on this item. Will update this item when and if I hear back from Icy Dock.