The rear of the IcyDock MB454SPF-B unit
has four SATA data connections, and either SATA I or SATA II hard
drives can be used with the product. There are two power connector
for all the drives.
All four hard drives power up when any one of the
power plugs is populated. There is no indication as to whether just
one power connection is sufficient, or if both are required. Naturally, each of the four
SATA data connections must be connected with your own SATA cables to corresponding
SATA headers on the motherboard. No SATA data cables are included with
the MB454SPF-B product.
A small forest of jumper pin headers
can be used for monitoring hard drive failure and access status with certain motherboards,
but the majority of consumer systems will have absolutely no need for any
of this.
The only other control you really
may be interested in is the temperature alarm which can be set to buzz off
at 45°C, 55°C, or 65°C. The 80mm fan clips into place with a special set of
power jacks, and is hot swappable. If the host drive can provide a hard drive failure signal, of if temperatures reach the threshold, a
nice loud alarm will sound alerting you to the problem. Furthermore,
a pair of red LEDs will glow brightly on the front of the unit
if either situation occurs. A small reset button on the front will silence
the siren.
(Note:
no SATA hard drives are included with the product, you will need to supply your
own.)
In the likely situation that the single sheet of
"instructions" is misplaced, a sticker with the pin-outs is affixed to the
bottom of the four-bay SATA hard drive module. Nice. Now let's wrap up this review
and highlight some of the aspects of IcyDock's product that are likely to be of most interest
to you next.