Expand Your Apple Airport Extreme, Time Capsule, Router, & Wireless NAS Storage with Icy Dock

Utilizing a NAS device is a great way to tie all of your computers together in a home or office setting. It allows the users to back up to the same location, share files across the network, and keep the system storage to a minimum, improving each user's performance and overall experience. The downside to most all in one solutions is that they can be restrictive in terms of hardware and storage capacity options. Fear not, for there is a solution. Many wireless routers currently on the market include USB and eSATA ports to allow users to create their own NAS device with a simple external hard drive or even a thumb drive. And, with select routers, these extra inputs will support port multiplication. In other words, they have the ability to act as a hub, so that multiple devices can be used with a single port.

Two such devices are the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station and the Apple Time Capsule.

The Apple Airport Extreme is a dual band wireless router that supports all standards of IEEE 802.11, including the newly published 802.11n. This allows you to share your network with both 2.4 GHz (such as iPhone) and 5 GHz devices (newer Mac or PC systems using 802.11n). The Airport Extreme includes 3 Gigabit LAN ports, and can support up to 50 users at a time. Also on the back, a single USB port, capable of handling multiple devices, such as a printer, or external hard drive, or both, and share them with both Windows and Mac systems. The Apple Time Capsule is nearly identical in features to the Airport Extreme, displaying only a handful of differences. However, the Time Capsule includes a 1TB or 2TB drive, and a USB port that will allow you to expand your network storage even further.

Using an Icy Dock multi-bay hard drive enclosure such as the MB561US-4S quad bay device or MB662US-2S or MB662UEAB-2S dual bay RAID unit will let you create a full on file server with up to 8TB (4TB max with dual bay) of storage capacity. Just choose the speed and capacity of your hard drives, insert them into the dock of your choice, and connect it to your router with the single USB cable, and you now have a full functioning NAS device. Having your drives in a multi-bay enclosure gives you maximum flexibility and easy maintenance of your system. If a drive fails, or you want to add an extra drive to your array, it is extremely simple and easy. Both of our enclosures also feature unique designs and aluminum body construction to keep your drives running as cool as ice, as well as our standard 3 year warranty.

Our multi-bay devices will also work with D-Link routers that have USB inputs and feature their Shareport Technology. One device that stands out is the DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router. This product features dual band technology, and includes 802.11n Draft 2.0 for maximum network speeds. Similar to the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule, the DIR-655 allows the user to connect a multi-bay device such as the MB561US-4S or MB662US-2S or MB662UEAB-2S and access any of the drives via Windows or Mac systems.

Additional Information on Icy Dock Multi-Bay Products:

MB561US-4S - Quad Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure featuring USB & eSATA
-Can Handle Up to 2TB in Each Slot
-80mm Removable Fan on Rear
-Built-in Fanless Power Supply
-Mac-like Silver Finish and Polished White Faceplate
-3 Year Warranty

MB662US-2S – Dual Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure With Built-in RAID, Featuring USB & eSATA
-Can Handle Up to 2TB in Each Slot
-RAID0, RAID1, BIG, SAFE33, SAFE50, and JBOD
-Built-in 40mm Fan with Variable Speed Control
-Screw-less Design
-3 Year Warranty

MB662UEAB-2S – Dual Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure With Built-in RAID, Featuring USB & FW400/FW800
-Can Handle Up to 2TB in Each Slot (RAID 1 & JBOD only)
-RAID0, RAID1, BIG and JBOD
-Built-in 40mm Fan with Variable Speed Control
-Screw-less Design
-3 Year Warranty

New Product Video and CES 2010 Highlights!

Here is a brand new product video for our recently released MB990SP-B Dual 2.5" SSD Converter Bracket!

* Fits standard 2.5” SATA / IDE SSD and HDD (9.5mm)
* Lightweight constructions
* For use in 3.5” internal drive bay
* Compatible with screw-less type HDD tray
* Genuine Plug & Play functionality
* Unique tool-less design for hassle free device and hard drive installation
* Ideally designed for anti-vibration and heat dissipation
* EZ Fit pins removable for use mounting screw or proprietary tray use

Product Page: http://www.icydock.com/product/mb990sp-b.html

We have put together a highlight page from our CES 2010 Booth, featuring pictures and interviews from a few brave attendees that gave us a minute or two of their time! Thanks again to everyone who stopped by!

http://www.icydock.com/ces2010highlights.html

Cheers,

Team Icy Dock

MB990SP-B Dual 2.5" to 3.5" Converter Bracket for SATA/IDE SSD & HDD

Introducing the Icy Dock MB990SP-B Dual 2.5” to 3.5” SATA and IDE Solid State and Hard Disk Drive Converter. This dual bay drive bracket allows you to use two SATA or IDE SSD and HDD in an internal 3.5” drive bay in most standard cases. Since most cases are not set up to use 2.5” form factor, the MB990SP-B allows you to make a huge upgrade to your system with very little effort.

The bracket will fit most types of cases. Out of the box it can be used in both tool-less and standard cases. The EZ Fit pins on the sides of the bracket fit into most standard mounting holes, and are also removable to use either your case’s proprietary mounting brackets, or to use screws for a more secure fit.

The EZ FIT bracket is extremely lightweight and has an open air design for maximum air flow and cooling of the drives. Most standard 2.5” IDE or SATA drives can be used due to the open back design, allowing use of direct connections to the drive, also giving the user flexibility to mix and match drives.

*Fits standard 2.5” SATA / IDE SSD and HDD (9.5mm)

*Lightweight constructions

*For use in 3.5” internal drive bay

*Compatible with screw-less type HDD tray

*Genuine Plug & Play functionality

*Unique tool-less design for hassle free device and hard drive installation

*Ideally designed for anti-vibration and heat dissipation

*EZ Fit pins removable for use with mounting screws or proprietary trays

MB990SP-B Sales Kit

http://www.icydock.com/product/images/mb990sp-b_kit.jpg

HomeServerShow.com Interview at CES

Greetings all!

Below is an interview we did with Christopher Lux from HomeServerShow.com at our booth at CES 2010. In it, we show off some of our multibay products and our new SSD converters!

Please keep your eye out for more coverage of Icy Dock at HomeServerShow.com in the coming months.

www.homeservershow.com

-Team Icy Dock

ICY TIP: How To Mount A 2.5" SATA SSD Into 3.5" Internal Drive Bay

In the last five years, the computer industry has seen fantastic leaps in technology. Processors are becoming exponentially faster, hard disk storage is becoming increasingly less expensive, and most of all, flash memory is slowly taking over the data storage market. I am of course talking about solid state drives, or as you may know them, SSD. It yields much faster read and write speeds, and is not limited by the rotational speed of a physical disk. Some top of the line SSDs have reported over 200 MB per second read speeds, and over 100 MB per second write speeds (i.e. Intel X25-M, OCZ Vertex Turbo, Asax Leopard Hunt II T2, Crucial M225 & A-Data S592). This is nearly double that of a single hard disk drive spinning at 7200 RPM.

Click the following link for 2009 Flash SSD charts:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-flash-ssd-charts/benchmarks,48.html

The only problem with integrating an SSD into most current systems is that it conforms to 2.5” form factor, while almost every computer case (i.e. ATX case, Micro ATX case, HTPC case & server case) on the market is only set up to use 3.5” drives internally. To overcome this obstacle, we have created an ideal device to allow users to keep their systems intact, and make a huge system upgrade in a matter of seconds.

The Icy Dock MB882 Series 2.5” to 3.5” Converter takes any standard 2.5” SATA SSD and transforms it into a standard sized 3.5” SATA drive. Everything is identical to a normal 3.5” hard drive, including dimensions, mounting holes, and connection locations. This allows you to use it with an internal drive bay, a hot swap mobile rack, RAID backplane, or even an external drive enclosure. Utilizing an SSD will increase the overall performance of any system. Whether you are a power user who likes to have multiple operating systems, or a video editor who needs every resource working at its maximum potential, there are benefits to be had.

Hundreds of thousands of units have been sold in just the short year it has been on the market. And with flash memory steadily becoming more affordable for users, there is no reason to hold out on giving your machine the upgrade it deserves.

ICY DOCK MB882SP-1S-1B Product Page

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb882sp-1s-1.html

ICY DOCK MB882SP-1S-2B Product Page

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb882sp-1s-2b.html

CES 2010 Product Preview

We would like to take this time to give you a taste of what we will be offering at our booth this year. We have plenty of new products to showcase, ranging from new SSD devices to USB 3.0! And the best part is this is only part of our product list for CES 2010! There are still a handful of products that we have yet to show you that will be at our booth for you to check out up close and personally.

ICY DOCK Booth Number: South Hall 1 #20422

Sincerely,

TEAM ICY DOCK

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MB973SP / MB974SP

Tray-Less Multi-Bay SATA RAID Backplane Module

* User friendly tray-less design just plug-in hard drive and play

* Compact multi bay design to maximize the space in your workstation

* Durable aluminum body for excellent heat dissipation with stylish appearance

* Detachable 80mm ball bearing rear cooling fan for easy maintenance

* Built-in eSATA & USB port for external storage device for convenient data transfer

* Power button for each slot

* Black finish fits most of PC cases

* Support SATA 6Gbps speed

MB982SP (Non-RAID)

Heavy duty Screw-less 2.5" to 3.5" SATA/SAS/SSD HDD Converter

* Converts your 2.5" SATA / SAS / SSD to a 3.5" SATA hard drive,

for 3.5" SATA drive bay usage.

* Made of solid metal for heavy duty applications

* Screw-Less design allows easy access to drives

* Airflow vents for heat dissipation with anti-vibration design

* Universal mounting holes for most common PC and Mac cases

* Screw-less design for quick & easy installation

* Perfect for System Integrators and IT Professionals

* Support SATA 6Gbps

MB982SPR (RAID Edition)

Heavy duty Screw-less Dual 2.5" to 3.5" SATA/SAS/SSD HDD Converter with Built-in RAID

* Converts 2 x 2.5" SATA / SAS / SSD to a 3.5" SATA hard drive,

for 3.5" SATA drive bay usage

* Made in solid metal for heavy duty applications

* Screw-Less design allow easy access to drives

* Airflow vents for heat dissipation with anti-vibration design

* Universal mounting holes for most common PC and Mac cases

* Screw-less design for quick & easy installation

* Perfect for System Integrators and IT Professionals

* Built-in RAID 0, 1 & JBOD (port multiplier required)

* Support SATA 6Gbps

MB992S-2S (Non-RAID)

Tray-Less Dual 2.5" to 3.5" SATA Mobile Rack

* Fits 2 x 2.5" SATA / SSD hard drive

* Compact multi bay design to maximize the space in your workstation

* Durable aluminum body for excellent heat dissipation with stylish appearance

* Stylish design with black finish fits most of PC cases

* Support SATA 6Gbps speed

* Fits in both floppy slot & internal 3.5" device bay

MB992RS-2S (RAID Edition)

Tray-Less Dual 2.5" to 3.5" SATA Mobile Rack with RAID

* Fits 2 x 2.5" SATA / SSD hard drive

* Compact multi bay design to maximize the space in your workstation

* Durable aluminum body for excellent heat dissipation with stylish appearance

* Stylish design with black finish fits most of PC cases

* Support SATA 6Gbps speed

* Fits in both floppy slot & internal 3.5" device bay

* Built-in RAID 0, 1 & JBOD (Port Multiplier required for JBOD)

MB991SK-B (Full Metal)

Single Bay 2.5" to 3.5" SATA & SAS Mobile Rack

* Durable aluminum body for excellent heat dissipation with stylish appearance

* Support 2.5" SATA / SAS / SSD hard drive

* Made of full metal for maximum durability

* Stylish design with black finish fits most of PC/IPC/Server cases

* Support SATA 6Gbps speed

* Removable tray design allow easy access to drives

* Perfect for small form factor case

* HDD tray interchangeable with MB994SP-4S series

MB994SP-4S (Full Metal)

Quad 2.5" to 5.25" SATA & SAS RAID Backplane Module

* Fits 4 x 2.5" hard drive in one 5.25" device bay

* Support 2.5" SATA / SAS / SSD hard drive

* Compact multi bay design to maximize the space in your workstation

* Made of full metal for maximum durability

* Stylish design with black finish fits most of PC/IPC/Server cases

* Support SATA 6Gbps speed

* Removable tray design allow easy access to drives

* Perfect for small form factor case

ICY DOCK USA

Tel: 626.956.8800

Fax: 626.956.8811

147 Puente Ave.

City of Industry, CA 91746

Product Naming Contest Winners!

We have our winners! There were so many good suggestions for this contest that it was very hard to choose just one winner for each category. In light of all the creative entries, we have decided to give prizes to those for an honorable mention. Each of our honorable mention entries will receive our MB663UB-1SB-1 2.5” Mobile USB Enclosure.

**Please check to see if your name or entry is below, and contact us with your full name and shipping information. Send them to sales01@icydock.com**

MB662US-2S

Winner

*Ice Shield – Submitted by Johnny Wong

Honorable Mention

*Databank – Submitted by Steven Irving

*IcyRaid Dual – Submitted by Michael Bielen

MB668US-1SB

Winner

*Black Ice – Submitted by James

Honorable Mention

*Black Icy – Submitted by Hiram Wilson

*Obsidian – Submitted by Roscoe Shelton

A big thanks to everyone who participated! We hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Cheers,

TEAM ICY DOCK

ICY DOCK Product Naming Contest Reminder

Hey all!

We would like to take this time to remind you that there is only a week left for our product naming contest! We have received a lot of great entries so far, so if you have not submitted one yet, put your creativity hat on and shoot us an email! The deadline is December 1, 2009, and there are (2) great prizes up for grabs to the person with the best name!

If you missed it, here is a link to our blog so that you can view all of the details:

http://icydock.com/2009/10/product-naming-contest.html

Please be sure to include your full name and email address so that we can contact you if you are the winner.

Cheers,

Team Icy Dock

ICY TIP: Expand your WD TV Storage Capacity with The ICY DOCK Enclosure

In the recent years, video files have grown exponentially in their size. When storing huge collections of movies, television shows, and other videos, a dedicated media drive can max out quicker than you would like it to.

The current solution to this problem is buying an external hard drive, storing your videos, and then moving on to another external drive when free space is gone. Additionally, with most media extenders like the Western Digital TV HD Media Player, the user will also need to utilize a USB hub due to the product only have a single USB input. However, in most cases, this also means adding another power supply, and another interface cable. In some cases, this leads to 3 or 4 different drives, all bound up together in a rats nest of cables. This definitely does not sound like something you want sitting on your media center in your living room!
The solution, of course, is much simpler, and more efficient. Using our MB561US-4S Quad Bay SATA HDD Enclosure, you can have up to 8TB of storage (2TB x 4 HDD), allowing you to store almost endless amounts of video, photos, and music. This device uses a built in USB port multiplier so that you only need a single USB port to access all 4 drives, and even has a built in power supply. Using our multi-bay hard drive enclosure you have already cut down your mess of wires and external drives, and cut down on your power bill!

Simply gather your hard drives, empty or containing existing files, and install them into their respective EZ Slide trays. Now place them into the MB561, connect the single USB cable to your WD TV HD Media Player and the single power cord to an outlet. Finally, flip the power switch, and you are ready to go.

Another issue when using multiple drives is figuring out a convenient way to transfer all of your files to these storage devices. Since Icy Dock products are engineered for multi-system integration, you can take a single drive out of the MB561, use our MB559 Series Single Bay Enclosure that is permanently stationed near your desktop or mobile PC, and use it to transfer all of your media for use with your MB561 that is connected to your WD TV HD Media Player.
The benefits to this include not having to lug around the large multi-bay enclosure that can begin to weigh over 10 lbs when fully loaded with hard drives. Another benefit is that both products use our EZ Slide trays, so there is no fumbling with screws or different sets of trays for each enclosure.

There are many different methods for utilizing your media collections, however, here at Icy Dock we always prefer to use the simplest means possible. Using what we call the "Single" method, you can use a single multi-bay enclosure, a single USB cable, and a single power cord to do the work of four different external hard drives, cut out four different power adapters, and four different USB cables. If you're looking for a solution to your media center, look no further than these two Icy Dock products in combination with the Western Digital TV HD Media Player.

Cheers,

Team Icy Dock

Links and Other Information

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb561us-4s.html - MB561US-4S

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb559us-1s.html - MB559US (eSATA & USB)

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb559uea-1s.html - MB559UEA (FIREWIRE 400 & USB)

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb559ueb-1s.html - MB559UEB (FIREWIRE 800 & USB)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=572 - Western Digital TV HD

**Please note that due to recent firmware updates for the WD TV HD, USB hubs and multi-drive enclosures will not work. Version 1.02.08 and later firmware are reported to no longer work with USB hubs. Support for USB hubs did work in versions 1.02.07 and earlier releases. Please refer to this link for more information: WD TV HD Firmware. Before making changes to your device, please always do sufficient research into the topic and procedure.

****Unofficial firmware is also available that allows for USB hub use and additional features such as network support and USB Blu Ray and DVD drives. This may or may not void the WD HD TV warranty.