Practical testing …
We installed and tested the Icy Dock ToughArmor Lite MB607SP-B removable frame in a server.
The following PC setup was used as the test system:
| AMD Motherboard | MSI MAG MORTAR B550 |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-9A |
| Thermal compound | Revoltec Thermal Grease Diamond |
| SSD | Samsung 970 EVO 512GB as system drive |
| PSU | Cooler Master G450M |
| Case | Chenbro RM24100 2 HE |
| Operating system | Win 11 |
The ToughArmor Lite MB607SP-B removable frame could easily be installed in a 2U case and fits flush in the 5.25″ bay.
The removable frame was equipped with two Crucial MX500 1TB SSDs. The large height of 15 mm allows the use of HDDs with a higher capacity, but the last representative for the home user of such drives, Toshiba’s MQ03ABB300, which has a whole 3 TB of storage space on 2.5″ and 15 mm height, was discontinued some time ago and there is currently no inexpensive hard drive with more than 2 TB and the CMR method for 2.5″ available. In this case, you would have to go for the Seagate Exos E, an enterprise hard drive with up to 2.4 TB for a steep price. However, SAS SSDs that can also feature heights of up to 15 mm, such as Seagate’s Nytro Enterprise series, can also be considered for commercial use.
Since the ToughArmor Lite MB607SP-B is a removable frame without integrated RAID functionality and thus the drives are connected directly to the motherboard or HBA, there should be no compatibility or speed issues. As expected, the drive speed is identical to the direct connection to the mainboard and is therefore not listed separately. The temperatures of the data media were about 23 °C at a room temperature of 21 °C, so the cooling can be described as very effective. The fan remained almost inaudible in low mode, while it can also only be heard slightly in high mode. The frequency is not disturbing at all.
Icy Dock ToughArmor Lite MB607SP-B Result and general impression …