INTRODUCTION

   Because as you all know data storage needs increase each day that goes by (when 8k content becomes available things will really get funny) we're always looking for new ways that people could further expand that without having to choose one of the ready solutions by the major players in the market (namely Seagate, WDC and Toshiba). That's not to say that these manufacturers don't have some very reliable, fast and versatile solutions because they obviously do (they are leading the storage industry after all) but when it comes to wealth of features third party manufacturers tend to be far more creative (although not always). ICY DOCK is one such manufacturer an after their very good ICY CUBE and Black Vortex quad-bay solutions today we're going to be testing their brand new ICYRaid Dual Bay 3.5" USB 3.0 External RAID Enclosure (MB662U3-2S R1).

   ICY DOCK is a privately held company with more than 22 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, branding and distributing computer data storage and enclosure peripherals especially in industrial and rugged computer data storage. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, ICY DOCK became a global computer data storage solution provider utilizing their manufacturing facility located in Shenzhen, China since 1997. Adhering to strict ISO9001 manufacturing guidelines, ICY DOCK delivers high quality products at a competitive price, allowing our customers to create a cost effective solution and help them to become successful in the competitive marketplace.

   The brand new ICYRaid by ICY DOCK is a plug & play tray-less and tool-less external enclosure that features two 3.5" SATA I/II/III drive bays (you can probably use 2.5" to 3.5" adapters need be), USB 3.0 connectivity (UASP is fully supported) and a manually speed adjustable 40mm rear exhaust fan. Its primary selling point however is neither of the above but rather its internal RAID controller chip thanks to which both mounted drives can be configured in JBOD, BIG/LARGE, RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes at the push of a button allowing the ICYRaid to cover the needs of pretty much every single user out there. Other features include an aluminum body (the bay covers however are plastic), individual activity LEDs for each drive, rear LED RAID rebuild activity light (all LED lights can be turned on and off) and compatibility with both Windows and MAC OS systems (Time Machine is fully supported).