ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure Review

Installation
Installing drives in the MB974SP-B is very simple.  We will be installing a single drive in this device which is a Samsung HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM drive.  All you have to do to install the drive is slide it in an open bay and lock it by closing the door.

ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure

Once you have your drives installed you can go ahead and install the MB974SP-B in your case.  I decided to install it in the Cooler Master CM Storm Enforcer case, which has four open 5.25-inch drive bays so I was able to install an optical drive and the MB974SP-B.  It easily went right in the case and I used the tool-less locking system on the case to lock it in to place.

ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure

Once you have the MB974SP-B installed you can go ahead and connect everything.  I would suggest if you can connect the 2 power connections before you install the MB974SP-B.  This is easily done if you have a modular power supply.  The reason for this is because the 80mm fan gets in the way and it is very hard to connect the SATA power connectors.

ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure

Testing
Testing the MB974SP-B is pretty simple.  I decided to use HDTune Pro and run both the read and write benchmarks.  Here are the results from those tests.

hdtune read

hdtune write

As you can see it is just like having a hard drive connected directly to your motherboard.  The 80mm fan on the back is barely audible, especially if you have a powerful CPU cooler.  I also liked that the power and activity LEDs for each bay were not super bright, but there was no switch to turn them completely off.

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