This is a pretty straightforward device to use with Windows 7. No drivers are required. Operating systems as far back as Windows XP shouldn't encounter any problems with it (PCSTATS tested it with Windows 7 x64 and Windows XP SP2).

First connect the USB 3.0 data and DC power cables.

IDE drives are plugged into the IcyDock and then the power jumper cable is connected. Note that the hard drive should lay flat on a table surface.

Serial ATA hard drives plug into the top of the IcyDock MB981U3N-1SA (power and data are delivered by the connector) and rest on their sides. Smaller 2.5" hard drives can be stood up with the IcyDock adaptor resting flat on a table, or laid on their side as in the above image.

From the other side it's not immediately clear that IcyDock have added a small support to keep the 3.5" SATA hard drive from tipping over.

If you look closely you'll see a small tab of plastic which supports the hard drive in this orientation and prevents the assembly from rocking about on the table top.

IcyDock advise against mounting 3.5" SATA drives to the MB981U3N-1SA in the method pictured above because there is no support other than the relatively fragile hot swap SATA connector supporting the entire hard drives weight. If you do this, chances are good the hard drive will be accidentally knocked over and snap the SATA connector off the board... so don't.

That's all there is to the IcyDock MB981U3N-1SA. Since transfer speeds entirely depend on the type of hard drive (SATA or IDE) there's no point in running data transfer benchmarks with this particular product. The IcyDock MB981U3N-1SA does exactly what it says and forms an integral part of any IT Admin's tool kit.

During PCSTATS' testing stage, we had absolutely no problems getting SATA drives connected and powered up with this product - the SATA HDDs were immediately mounted by Windows 7 and Windows XP operating systems (provided they were formatted) once te power button pressed.

With IDE hard drives the best we can say is that the IcyDock MB981U3N-1SA is very finicky with HDDs that may have SMART errors, bad sectors or are otherwise on their last legs. Some IDE drives which we thought to be good wouldn't mount via the MB981U3N-1SA, yet would with a bit of coaxing via a direct IDE connection (albeit with loads of SMART errors). With IDE hard drives known to be good and working the MB981U3N-1SA mounted the drive without issue after a few seconds. At most we had to disconnect the USB cable before plugging in the hard drive, then reconnect the USB cable to the computer to get the PC to notice the new disk... so keep that in mind if you've picked up the MB981U3N-1SA and are having trouble with it.

In all other respects the IcyDock MB981U3N-1SA fills a very handy role and is a worthwhile addition to any IT departments box of tricks.

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