Icy Dock Black Vortex Overview
The Black Vortex name really holds true to this product. Taking a look at it, it has a very unique design. Most of the outer shell of the device is made of metal, which means it will be able to take a fair share of wear. The Black Vortex is designed as a bay device that will fit into three 5.25-inch drive bays.
The front of the device has the Icy Dock logo on it and as I mentioned. On the right side you are going to find activity LEDs for each of the four hard drive bays, fan brightness slider and a fan speed slider. I like that you have the ability to turn the fan LED off, while some may like the LEDs on the fan others might find them annoying.
The front door of the device opens to the right, this reveals the 120 mm cooling fan. The fan does have a removable filter that can easily be cleaned. When you open the front door it also reveals the four hot-swap bays.
There are not hot-swap trays, but rather the plastic locking pieces on the front of the unit. You will screw in your drives to these and slide them into the unit.
Taking a look at both sides of the unit we can see the mounting points and do take note the entire cage is made of metal.
Moving on to the back we have a PCB that has all four of the SATA data connections and two SATA power connections. So you are able to power all four drives plus the fan with only two SATA power connectors.
