Introduction

I would like to thank Icy Dock for supplying the review sample.


Icy Dock has made a name for itself with products aimed at enterprise and government applications. As such, most of their offerings provide uncompromising build quality centered around steel and utilizing interfaces like U.2. The Icy Dock EZ-Adapter MB031U-1SMB, however, is a lot more end-user centric with its use of plastic as a housing and SATA based interfaces, even if its name is quite the tongue twister.

A Closer Look

It is quite unlikely that you will find an Icy Dock products on a physical store shelf, so the MB031U-1SMB ships in nothing but a plain brown box with a single sticker to let you know what is within. A bubble wrap bag provides some protection out of the box.


You will get a really sturdy USB-C cable alongside a basic usage guide. The cable is quite thick and feels of really high quality. That said, it is really short for most usage scenarios.


The device itself, on the other hand, with its all-plastic housing is quite light and provides a bit of a stark contrast to what we are used to seeing from Icy Dock. The top sports large branding, another thing we usually don't see a lot on their other products. On the underside, two rubber pads ensure that the unit stays in place on smooth surfaces. We tried taking it apart as there are screws underneath each of the pads, but Icy Dock seems to also weld the housing together by way of a plastic pin in the center, underneath the sticker, so pulling it apart would result in breaking it.


The rear sports a USB-C connector, so you are free to use a longer cable you may have lying around. The classic SATA port is exposed in the front, while the M.2 SATA connector is recessed on the top of the EZ-Adapter MB031U-1SMB. Icy Dock could have made the enclosure bigger and recessed the classic SATA port as well for additional protection, but as long as you treat it like you would the bare drives it powers, there is no real need for that.


Icy Dock has placed a large, sliding and color coded on/off switch to the top of the adapter and equipped it with a blue LED that turns on accordingly while blinking when a drive is being accessed.