ICY DOCK Tray-Less 4 x 2.5 SATA/SAS SSD/HDD Hot-Swap Docking Enclosure for 5.25" Bay | FlexiDOCK MB014SP-B

This device does what it sets out to do pretty well. I have it coupled with a 4 port PCIE adapter. Sometimes it doesn't work exactly as intended when you hot swap a drive, sometimes it does. I have found if it doesn't, you may need to eject the drive and try again.Overall, I am happy with the functionality and performance it provides.

The bay fits well and drives fit well within. Cables plug in and lights go on, but the drives are not powered or recognized by the system. I've verified the same cables, receptacles, and drives work fine when the enclosure is not used. After troubleshooting and a warranty claim, the same equipment was returned from Icy Dock, but still doesn't work.Save your time and money; steer clear. Unfortunate, since this would be a nice system if it worked.

I purchased the 4 bay tray-less unit. As others have mentioned, the drives can sometimes get stuck and requires some force to get them out. But the biggest problem I had was that it would never read my drives. Lights came on, drives lit up, used new cables, unplugged all connections except this one, nothing would ever be found in Windows. Returned. Hopefully it works for others but I will not waste my time again on it.

I like having only one power connector, and being able to arrange the drives in the order you might need them. Also nice to be able to power off the drives not needed.Just hope you don't need to move the drives around or replace them very often, because ejecting the drives is very difficult.

I like the functionality, mainly the following:1. It has slots for four 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD's2. There are LEDs per HDD, LEDs are not too bright, just right.3. Each HDD has its own power switch.4. Fan is small and very quiet. I can barely hear it even at the highest speed (speed is controlled througha wheel at the front)As such, I am using it as HDD switch to boot one of four operating systems instead ofusing one disk with multiple partitions each with its own OS and a boot manager.Dislikes:1. 9.5mm HDDs/SSDs fit snug into the slots, so they are fine, but slim HDDs/SSDs (less than 9.5mm height) will leave a gap to the top of the slot, so airflow will be more in these slots.2. If any slot is empty, most airflow can be only through that slot and that means much less air flowfor occupied slots. A slot cover would have been very useful.3. Fan sits on the back, at the center of enclosure, works in exhaust mode (front to back air flow).There is a circuit board that blocks some airflow. The circuit board has a cutout so air can flow fromHDD side to the fan. But this cutout is not centered, it is almost 3/4th to the right. As such,the right side slots get better airflow than the left side slots. Symmetry would have been better.4. The worst part of the design is the eject button. This button operates a paddle next to theSATA connector. The paddle is made of plastic and rather thin (2-2.5mm thick), and sits on one sideof the SATA connector. Once a HDD or SSD is plugged into a slot, it is very difficult to get it outwith the eject button. You have to press the button extremely hard to eject. I am afraid, aftera few ejects, either the plastic paddle or some mechanism between the button and the paddlemay break and the slot becomes one-time plug-in. Eject paddle on one side of the HDDdoes not work well because there is no symmetry. Eject paddles on both sides of the HDD would havemade it lot easier to eject because they can push the SSD at both ends.I would have given the overall rating as 4 stars but gave 3 stars because of bad airflow design andvery bad eject mechanism design. Also, I saw slight bow on top metal on two units I ordered.The metal on top of the enclosure rests on support from bottom but there is nothing to hold it downat the center. A couple of screws from top would have made it better.So, if you are going to use it like me, for boot drive selection and rarely eject HDDs, you would be fineand it is excellent value for money. But if you need to eject the HDDs a few times, you need to find a better one.

This product was delivered in the retail box without any shipping packaging other than the bubble wrap around the internal bay adapter. I don't know if that is what caused my experience, but it probably does help. I think I just bough E-Waste.The item I received looked nominal upon opening, but I've tried different cables and every possible combination of situations thinking maybe a port was bad after it failed to work with the same drive I had previously working before sticking into this. NOTHING WORKS! This item looks to be built well and has all the features I was looking for, but I'm forced to agree with another reviewer that claimed that this was a bad device. I tried the same drive outside of the adapter and inside all four of the bays with he same power hookup and SATA cable and it doesn't work. See picture for BIOS screen and corresponding picture of drive connection. Also, see pictures for retail box that was only packaging it was shipped in (no padding). I cannot hear anything loose inside but I think it is either a dud or was damaged in shipping. I'm going to return for refund.

Put cables on before install. Data xfer is as expected, but removal is hard and reinstalling ssd is not easy every time.

This tray is a slick design but it will not boot a bookable drive with the light on or off. I have a tray from another manufacturer and it works like a charm. It seems like some of the circuitry is missing to enable a boot off of a drive in this tray. I would suggest that you do not waste your time on this dude.