Three SSD caddies reviewed

Icy Dock 2.5in to 3.5in SSD & SATA Hard Drive Converter

Manufacturer: Icy Dock
UK Price (as reviewed): £14.94 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $24.99 (ex. Tax)

Next up is the Icy Dock 2.5in to 3.5in SSD & SATA Hard Drive Converter. This little gadget works to a similar principle as the Akasa SSD Mounting kit in that it's about the same size as a 3.5in hard drive. As such it too should fit in most 3.5in drive bays and will take up one bay. For those of you lucky enough to have two SSDs though, despite it's much higher price tag than the Akasa kit, it only has room for one drive.

However it does have a little trick up its sleeve. The top cover lifts open on hinges revealing a bay into which 2.5in drives can fit. When you close the door, the action pushes the drive into a SATA 3Gbps interface at the bottom meaning it's essentially a screw-less design. This interface feeds to one on the outside of the enclosure which is located in the same place as that on a normal 3.5in hard disk.


This means that with cases such as the Corsair Obsidian and Silverstone FT01 which have slide in SATA 3Gbps interfaces, the dock should still work. Having used several drives numerous times in the Icy Dock we can safely say it appears to be a foolproof mechanism and the device itself is very solid feeling too.


While SSDs don't produce much heat, standard 2.5in laptop hard drives do need a bit of ventilation so if for some reason you end up using one of these in the Icy Dock, it does have vents rather than being totally sealed. At £14.94 it's still fairly cheap but as it can only house one 2.5in drive it's not quite as good value as the Akasa kit for those of us who won't be using cases with slide in SATA 3Gbps interfaces.