Pack 12 M.2 SSDs Into Your DVD Bay With Icy Dock's New Enclosure

ToughArmor MB872MP-B
(Image credit: IcyDock)

Icy Dock this week announced a new M.2 enclosure that can house up to 12 M.2 SSDs and is the size of a single, 5.25-inch optical drive bay. You can install the ToughArmor MB872MP-B directly into your best PC case  — if you still have a case that even supports external 5.25-inch drives. 

The ToughArmor MB872MP-B can be a really cool option for those with mass storage needs. Housing up to 12 M.2 SSDs can be great for NAS or server use, for example.

ToughArmor MB872MP-B

(Image credit: IcyDock)

The ToughARmor MB872MP-B supports drive sizes from 30mm all the way to 110mm (2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280 / 22110). The only obvious downside of this drive rack is the lack of NVMe support; the only M.2 form factor drives it supports are SATA-based. That means you're limited to 6 Gbps speeds.

ToughArmor MB872MP-B

(Image credit: IcyDock)

All 12 SSDs are connected via three custom OcuLink (SFF-8612) data connectors and two SATA 15-pin power connectors.

For cooling, the chambers are specialized slimline trays. They're made with a thick aluminum to help act as a heatsink for keeping the M.2 drives cool. There's also a 40mm fan is installed to ensure active airflow is going over all the drives.

The ToughArmor MB872MP-B is currently available for $773.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • logainofhades
    A bit of a shame that it doesn't support NVME.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    logainofhades said:
    A bit of a shame that it doesn't support NVME.
    If it did, then you'd run into the issue of available lanes for that.
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    I love data drive backplanes, it makes maintenance and servicing, SOO much easier.
    Reply
  • excalibur1814
    I really like the idea of the device... but then noticed the price. Nah. They can keep it.
    Reply
  • mdd1963
    12 x 8 TB drives in a single DVD sized drive bay....

    Interesting, at least.
    Reply
  • escksu
    USAFRet said:
    If it did, then you'd run into the issue of available lanes for that.

    Not really. You can have a PCIE switch controller card. Eg, 48x to 4x. Then you can have all 12 nvme sticks. But total bandwidth will be limited.
    Reply
  • escksu
    mdd1963 said:
    12 x 8 TB drives in a single DVD sized drive bay....

    Interesting, at least.

    Unfortunately, thats not going to happen. The enclosure can only support M.2 SATA drives, not Nvme ones. While 8TB Nvme drives are available, I have never seen any for M.2 SATA.
    Reply
  • I think 4TB is the largest sata drive? They are about A$1600 here. So to to fill this box I'd be looking at just under A$21,000 (given the box itself will probably retail for about A$1500), for 48TB of space. 4 x 12TB HDDs will set me back about A$1900. Would I pay $21000 for 48TB Storage. Not a chance.
    Reply
  • namtrooper81
    excalibur1814 said:
    I really like the idea of the device... but then noticed the price. Nah. They can keep it.
    I have to agree 100% definitely not worth that amount.
    Reply
  • SpinningMeat
    logainofhades said:
    A bit of a shame that it doesn't support NVME.
    https://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=332 <<<<<<Right here baby~~Found it for you. Your welcome :)
    Reply