Product: IcyDock 2.5″-3.5″ Drive Converter
Manufacturer: IcyDock
MSRP: $24.99
Author: Cameron Kopas (aliencam)
Date: 07.19.2009

IcyDock makes a series of hard drive docks, enclosures, and other related products. Most of these are very nice, sturdy products. The intended purpose of this Hard Drive Converter is to literally “convert” any 2.5” SATA laptop hard drive into a 3.5” desktop drive

The packaging is a plastic clamshell-style with a graphic cardboard insert behind the product. The package displays all pertinent information and possible uses for the converter. There are some staples on the sides, but fortunately the packaging opens nicely, only being sealed at the bottom. It snaps open and closed for reuse very easily once the staples are removed.

External design of the Icy Dock 2.5” to 3.5” converter is fairly plain. The box is flat black plastic, with vertical slits for heat vents on the front and back, and screw holes on the sides. The top has “Icy Dock” embossed in it, along with places to put your thumbs, and arrows showing the direction you need to slide to open the top.

When opening the converter, be careful not to open it past about 70 degrees. While the hinge is quite sturdy, I still wish that it would open to a full 90 degrees just to be safe about the opening. Inside, is a very small circuit board, with the female SATA connector on the inside, and the male on the outside (SATA cables are one of the few where the cable itself is female). This converter fits all of the 2.5” SATA hard drives that I have perfectly, including the SSD. The drive is placed into a metal sled, and has to be oriented correctly toward the interface connection. When you close the lid, the sled pushes the hard drive into the connector. This is great as long as you are using a standard size 2.5” hard drive, but any deviation from the standard length will mean that the drive will not be fully connected, and you can’t plug it into the converter yourself. On the top inside is a flat metal spring to reduce any vibrations from the 2.5” drive. I would have preferred this be rubberized to prevent any possible scratches on the hard drive.
During testing, I did not notice any differences in drive read or write speed.

Conclusion:

Overall I like Icy Dock’s products; most of them are well thought out, well executed, and useful. However, I have to say that I have never encountered a situation where this product is necessary at all, and only a few where it could have been used. This is a product with an already severely limited market, but also one that is constantly shrinking as more and more desktop cases have a place to mount 2.5” drives.

If you are looking for a 2.5” to 3.5” HDD Converter, then this is the product for you. It is very well engineered, and works perfectly for it’s intended purpose. If you are not specifically looking for something to do this, save yourself the $15-$25 and just plug the SATA cable into your laptop drive—it works exactly the same.

Pros:

• Very sturdy build
• Solid metal hinge
• Intuitive Use
• Air/heat vents
• Fits all standard 2.5” HDD/SSDs
• Fits anywhere a standard 3.5” HDD would
• Lightweight
• No decrease in performance

Cons:

• Hinge only opens 70 degrees
• Metal vibration dampeners
• Why do I need this again?

Tags: 2.5", 3.5", Computer, Converter, Desktop, dock, Drive, Hard, hdd, Icy, IcyDock, Laptop, SSD