Summary: Xigmatek Secure USD01 offers a hard drive docking bay compatible with both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA drives. The great compatibility together with its great connectivity makes this unit one of the most attractive solutions if you are looking for a docking station for internal hard drives.

INTRODUCTION

You have probably already seen them; the new docking solutions for internal hard drives. Manufacturers figure we cannot make do with normal external hard drives. Before doing this review I really didn’t get the point of these docking stations so I thought to myself; why no test one of these products out?

Before digging any deeper into this (mess), let’s take a look at the specifications:

You may also want to have a look at Xigmatek’s own product page for the Xigmatek Secure USD01.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Xigmatek Secure USD01 comes packaged in a cardboard box of gray color with some details in other colors. In the front part, there’s an image of the product and the name of the model. The specifications of the product are described in print on the backside of the box as you can see from the images below.

When I opened the box, I found the Xigmatek Secure USD01 perfectly protected by bubble plastic. The rest of the accessories that accompanied the unit were placed in a separate cardboard box and surrounded by an individual plastic bag. The Secure USD01 bundle includes an AC-adapter, a 12V adapter, a USB cable, an eSATA cable and a brief manual. The manual is only available in English.

IN DETAIL: XIGMATEK SECURE USD01

The Xigmatek Secure USD01 is made of a matte black color and has kind of a nice touch to it with its round shapes. It looks especially good when it’s running with the orange LED light located in the front of the unit.

The backside carries all the connections of the Secure USD01. It has one USB 2.0 and one eSATA port. The third connector is for the AC adapter and just above you can see the power button.

The upper part has a partial cover that moves depending on what drive size you enter in the unit. The docking bay is compatible with all hard drives of the 3.5” and 2.5” inch SATA standards (SATA150 and SATA300). The only restrictions are the size of the drives; for 2.5 inch drives the upper limit is 500GB and for the 3.5 inch drives the limit is 1.5TB. The way the hard drives are inserted has been patented by Xigmatek.

One of the great qualities of the Xigmatek Secure USD01 is that we can connect and disconnect drives “on the fly”, i.e. we don’t have to extinguish the device whenever we want to change discs. This is made possible by the “Hot Swap” technology you normally only see in better rack servers.

The underside of the product has six rubber supports to give the unit some friction against the surface it is placed upon. The Xigmatek Secure USD01 unit is surprisingly light of only 325 grams.

INSTALLATION AND TESTS

The use of the Xigmatek Secure USD01 couldn’t be simpler. Whenever possible I recommend you use the eSATA connector for connecting the device to your computer since it has greater bandwidth than USB 2.0.

I actually tried to confirm if the theoretical difference between USB 2.0 and eSATA made any practical difference. The results can be viewed further down in this review. Here’s a list of the surrounding hardware I used for this review:

As you can see from the diagram above; the performance generally increased rather dramatically when I connected the docking bay through the eSATA connector compared to the USB 2.0.

I didn’t experience any heat problems and I shouldn’t since the connected hard drive is mostly surrounded by “free air”.

CONCLUSIONS

This Xigmatek product is a safe bet. It’s easy to install, it works without hassle and the connectivity is OK. Furthermore it’s easy to operate and looks great, especially when it’s running. It’s great that the Secure USD01 is compatible with both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA drives and that it supports both SATA150 and SATA300.

Another good thing is the price of this unit at around 25€ ($32).

But I still don’t get why I need this product as an ordinary user? External drives have many advantages. They are not sensitive to static electricity like internal drives, i.e. every time you are handling an internal drive there’s a chance you wreck it because of static electricity and it also has sensitive PCB electronics which means you will have troubles transporting it “as is”. I can think of many other advantages with external drives but maybe I should stop myself. I guess this type of product is meant for people with specific needs and I am simply not one of those people.

Instead I should evaluate this product with the intent of analyzing its performance and usability for people having a need for it. And in my review I have not experienced any problems at all; it’s basically a great product… even though I have no direct use for it.

Pros:

• Connectivity
• Compatibility with both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA drives
• Hot Swap compatibility
• Nice looking design
• Low price

Cons:

• Why do I need this again?

The final score is 95 out of 100 owls, and we give the “Xigmatek Secure USD01” our Editor’s Choice Award.

Thanks goes out to Xigmatek for letting me review this docking station.

Author: Manuel González Fernández

Translator: Vince Emiloz Sanderson

Summary: Icy Dock has an interesting hard drive case which lets us mount 2.5 inch SSD hard drives (or normal mechanical 2.5 inch drives) in conventional desktop chassis. In other words it converts a 2.5 inch SATA150 or SATA300 drive to a 3.5 inch SATA drive.

INTRODUCTION

Until recently there was no point in installing 2.5 inch drives in desktop cases. These drives couldn’t compete with the 3.5 inch drives either in performance or price. With the SSDs now dropping in price the scene has somewhat changed or is at least undergoing a change. If you are building a HTPC or something similar you may actually want a SSD in it to make it more silent, faster or for whatever reason. Now as most desktop cases, even smaller HTPC cases, only supports 3.5 inch drives, you will need some kind of converting hard drive enclosure if you want to install a 2.5 inch hard drive. And this is where the Icy Dock MB882 case comes in.

Let’s take a look at the specifications:

The average score of the Icy Dock MB882 from other expert reviews is currently 85% at TestSeek and it has won several awards. More info from the manufacture can be found at the product page.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The enclosure comes enveloped in a simple hard plastic cover which lets us see the product entirely.

The only accessories included in the bundle were the manual and a couple of screws for mounting the enclosure in a desktop chassis (as you do with normal 3.5 inch drives).

ICY DOCK MB882 IN DETAIL

The external appearance of ICY DOCK MB882 is sober in its matte black color casing made of plastic. On top of the case we can see the manufacturer logo and also some instructions on how to open the case. On the front side of the case you can see the ventilation grid.

In the back side of the case I found the SATA data and power connections located directly under the ventilation grid. The fact that this case has ventilation openings both in the front and back means that if you place a fan in front of the case the circulation of air will move perfectly through the enclosure.

To open the ICY DOCK MB882 you just push the top cover towards the back of the case and then just lift it up to open the case. Inside the box I found a steel structure which will hold and secure the hard drive which you place in it. The anti vibration system which I mentioned in the specifications consists of two rubber bands which will press against the hard drive and thus absorb the vibrations. The small PCB in the case is the adapter between the SATA connectors from the hard drive to the casing’s SATA connectors.

INSTALLATION AND TESTS

The installation of a hard disk in the ICY DOCK MB 882 is really easy. Just place the drive inside the case in the right direction (…I know) and then when you close the case the disc will connect to the casing’s SATA connectors through a mechanical solution which activates when closing the top cover.

In my test I used a regular (mechanical) Toshiba of 2.5 inch drive of which I did not have any previously measured data of temperatures or performance. I therefore measured the temperatures of the drive mounted inside the ICY DOCK MB882 enclosure and compared them with the temperatures of the drive when not mounted. There results of my measurements can be viewed in the table below:

The test was realized in the Antec Skeleton case which has a front cooler blowing air on the hard drive at all times.

As I had hoped, the performance of the disc was not affected. The tiny differences which followed my test is normal, the exact same figures are very rarely obtained in these kinds of tests even if no outer conditions are changed. The slightly higher temperature of the disk when mounted within the enclosure should be expected since the cooling surface is naturally smaller.

CONCLUSIONS

As I mentioned in the beginning of this review, the fact that all solid state disks are in the 2.5 inch format has created a problem for consumers who wants to have SSDs in their desktop systems. For the time being there are very few solutions like this so Icy Dock is in a good spot with this enclosure.

I would like to emphasize its cooling system which consists merely of two ventilation shafts, one in the front and one in the back of the enclosure. This may not sound like much but it does the job very well. Another strong point is its super easy installation. The cost for this case isn’t much to talk about at around $25 (18€). It’s just another factor which makes it even easier for me to recommend.

Pros:

• Good quality
• Lets us use 2.5 drives in regular chassis
• Affect on drive performance and temperature is minimal
• Low price

Cons:

• None

The final score is 95 out of 100 owls, and we give the “Icy Dock MB882” our Editor’s Choice Award.

As you know, TestSeek collects all expert reviews of many different product types. Head over to our Harddrive Enclosures category to find all expert reviews of alternatives to the Icy Dock MB882.

Thanks goes out to Icy Dock for letting me review this enclosure.

Author: Manuel González Fernández

Translator: Vince Emiloz Sanderson