INTRODUCTION

   Portable solid state drives may have managed to surpass portable hard disk drives in terms of popularity but since there are still not that many 10Gbps (USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2) models available in the market today people often decide to build their very own by pairing M.2 PCIe NVMe drives with external enclosures. That way not only one can get higher performance, capacity and even endurance levels compared to many factory-ready models but also a better enclosure (in terms of looks, drive cooling and quality). ICY DOCK has been in the business of developing high quality and performance storage enclosures for as far back as i can recall and so today I'll be testing their latest M.2 NVMe to USB 3.1 Gen 2 External Enclosure, the ICY Nano (MB861U31-1M2B).

   ICY DOCK is a privately held company with more than 24 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, branding and distributing computer data storage and enclosure peripherals, especially in industrial and rugged computer data storage. ICY DOCK became a global leader in the computer data storage industry, utilizing their designing and manufacturing capability since 1997. Adhering to strict manufacturing guidelines and having creative product designing teams in California, USA, ICY DOCK delivers highest quality products to exceed customer expectation and offers one of a kind product to satisfy customer’s need.

   The ICY Nano is a medium sized external M.2 NVMe enclosure based on the JMicron JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 bridge controller (type-C / Thunderbolt 3 compatible) which offers data transfer speed up to 10Gbps and fully supports TRIM commands. The enclosure is made out of aluminum and plastic (top aluminum, bottom plastic - the top acts as a heatsink which significantly reduces temperatures) and aside its hassle-free, tool-less M.2 SSD installation (which is perhaps its strongest selling point) it's also compatible with all M.2 form factors (2230/2242/2260/2280/22110) and supports hot-swap. So, let's move forward with today's review and see what ICY DOCK offers with their ICY Nano M.2 NVMe enclosure.