ICY DOCK Community Blogs: ICY TIP: Optimize Storage Space and Access Speeds with 2.5" and 3.5" HDD/SSD Combinations using the MB561U3S-4S with New EZ-Tray System

Optimize Storage Space and Access Speeds with 2.5" and 3.5" HDD/SSD Combinations using the MB561U3S-4S with New EZ-Tray System

With the rapidly dropping prices and growing popularity of solid state drives (SSDs), many media professionals, power users, gamers, system builders, and average computer users are picking up SSDs to speed up their systems. However, even with the increases in storage size for SSDs, it is still not a viable solution for most storage capacity demands. And that is why 3.5" hard disk drives (HDD) are still the way to go for main data storage. A single HDD can hold as much as 6 terabytes (TB) of data, such as the Western Digital Green 6TB SATA 3.5" Hard Drives, which is six times more storage capacity compared to the max 1TB storage for SSDs, such as the Crucial M550 1TB 2.5" SSD in the market currently.

This means if users opt for faster data access speeds with SSDs, they lose storage capacity. If they choose to use HDDs for greater storage capacity, they do not gain the increased I/O speeds that is important for intensive applications such as file servers, photo and video editing, gaming, and media streaming.

However, currently, ICY DOCK's products that utilize the EZ-Trays are currently transitioning to a new and improved EZ-Trays design that will provide the best compatibility for both 2.5” SATA HDD/SSD and 3.5” SATA HDD of all heights, ranging from lightning fast 2.5” SATA III SSD to 3.5” SATA 6TB HDD. This ability provides great flexibility for many users who require large storage capacity while having fast read/write speeds for intense applications.

MB561U3S-4S - Quad Bay USB 3.0 and eSATA Enclosure with New EZ-Tray System

External enclosures make great storage solutions for users with fixed type systems, such as the iMac, MacBook, laptop, ALL-IN-ONE PC, NAS, Media player, DVR system and gaming console, or for the users who like the ability to take their data on the go.

The ICYCube MB561U3S-4S 4 Bay USB 3.0 & eSATA External HDD Enclosure is the first ICY DOCK enclosure that employs the new EZ-Tray system. The MB561U3S-4S equipped with USB 3.0 interface, which allows users to easily expand their storage capacity and supports SSD's fast access speed. As stated in our previous ICY TIP article (How to Affordably Maximize Time Efficiency for Media Professionals with USB 3.0 Interface), USB 3.0's excessive benefits -- blazing fast, widely available, and easily affordable -- compared to other types of interface, it is the best option out there for most users (including Mac system users), especially those that perform intense applications such as video editing.

With 4 available hard drive bays, the MB561U3S-4S allows for different combinations of 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDDs/SSDs to be used for the desired result. For example, a media professional that uses a MacBook Pro to edit videos can use one bay with a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD or SanDisk X210 256GB SSD for processing video edits and can have Seagate Enterprise 6TB SATA 3.5" Hard Drive or HGST Ultrastar 4TB SATA 3.5" Hard Drive in the remaining bays for general video data storage.

Additionally, with multiple hard drives, users have the option of creating RAID for even faster performance speeds and/or added data protection. Apple's Disk Utility provides Mac users the ability to create software RAID. Two SSDs can be placed together in RAID 0 for maximum performance speed and two HDD can be used to create RAID 1 for data security.

MB561U 3S-4S Product Features:

*	Plug and play installation, no drivers required
*	SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with up to 5Gbps transfer speed
*	Backward compatible with USB 2.0 interface
*	eSATA connection with up to 6Gbps transfer speed (port-multiplier required)
*	New EZ-Tray system supporting both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA HDD/SSD of all heights
*	Adjustable cooling fan with 3 speed settings (low, high, and auto)
*	Support largest capacity drives available on the market (6TB)
*	Removable EZ-Tray design allows you to quickly swap out drives
*	Moderately illuminating white LED for power & drive activities
*	High grade aluminum alloy frame with detailed matte finish
*	Include 4x EZ-Trays which features shock absorbing technology to help protect your drives
*	Detachable 80mm ball bearing rear cooling fan provides easy maintenance
*	Integrated power supply, so big power bricks aren’t necessary
*	Rubber padded soles for enhanced stability

MB561U 3S-4S Product Page

Interchangeability

ICY DOCK's new EZ-Tray design not only adds configuration options to internal and external storage solution designs, but it also retained the previous interchangeable functionality. Users have the ability to have two or more set ups with different products but use this interchangeable tray to swap the same hard drives between them. A user can easily take a the hard drive from a MB455SPF-B cage at work and take it home to be used in the MB561U3S-4S.

This system can allow for cross-platform usage as well. For example, a person who favors a Mac OS platform can use the MB559U3S-1SB at home and be able to take their hard drive to use with a friend's Windows PC system with a MB153SP-B.

The New EZ-Tray brings novelty, creativity, and flexibility. The user can be a Mac or PC, media professional or system builder, professional gamer or average computer user; they will be able to use the trays to their needs. The users have the ability to use the hard drive of their choosing in external or internal enclosures and with or without RAID functions. No other products have the interchangeability and adaptability between a range of products as wide as ICY DOCK's EZ-Tray products. And on top of all that, all of ICY DOCK's products are backed by a 3 year warranty and global customer service, so users can rest assured that they will have the best support for quality products!

Other ICY DOCK EZ-Tray enclosures:

External HDD enclosures: