Icy Dock ToughArmor MB996SP-6SB RAID

According to Moore’s Law, the number or transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years (18 months). However the speed of advancement is not outpacing the growing demand for faster access of greater amounts of data. To keep up with this demand, greater space storage is important to today’s data servers. The problem many servers face today is not able to fit enough storage capacity into the limited amount of space while keeping your data safe. It seems that the 2.5″ HDD and SSD are the answer as they are smaller, lighter and use less energy compare to the 3.5″ HDD. The question is how you optimize the space you have in your computer chassis, to fit as many as 2.5″ HDD/SSD as possible.

ICY DOCK‘s solution is to use 2.5″ HDDs or SSDs with the ToughArmor MB996SP-6SB 6 x 2.5″ SATA HDD Hot Swap Mobile Rack. This model allows six 2.5″ HDDs/SSDs of 7mm to 9.5mm height to fit into a single standard 5.25″ bay.

Why 2.5″ HDDs over 3.5″ HDDs?
Though 2.5″ HDDs/SSDs are smaller in size than 3.5″ drives, 3.5″ drives have capacities up to 4TB while the highest amount currently for a 9.5mm height 2.5″ HDD is 1.5TB.

However, in one 5.25″ bay, you can only fit one 3.5″ drive which keeps your options limited. With the MB996SP-6SB, you can fit drives such as the HGST Travelstar 5K1500 1.5TB 2.5″ HDD for a total of 9TB of storage space. With six drives and a higher storage capacity, you have the options of a high performance compact storage unit with RAID (redundant array of independent disks) function.

Space Saving with RAID
Most servers use a RAID function to protect the data. Typically, RAID functions require a big amount of physical space to fit more storage capacity with redundant drives for data protection. For example, RAID-5 and RAID-6 normally take up a lot of physical space because a minimum of three HDDs are required for RAID-5 and a minimum of four HDDs are required for RAID-6. However with 6 x 2.5″ HDD in the MB996SP-6SB, you have the option of using certain RAID functions such as RAID-5 or RAID-6 which will give you better performance yet great data protection all in a 5.25″ bay.

RAID-5 uses block striping with a distributed parity which gives it faster R/W speeds (speeds similar to RAID-0) while protecting the data. With RAID-5, the increased performance speed depends on the number of drives. The more drives the faster the speed. So a 6 x HDDs in RAID-5 will be faster than 3 x HDDs in RAID-5. When using 1.5TB HDDs in MB996SB-6SB, the total capacity with RAID-5 will be 7.5TB with performance speeds up to 5x faster than a single drive and a fault tolerance of one drive.

Using RAID-6 will give twice data protection but lose some performance and storage capacity compared to RAID-5. So with the 1.5TB HDDs in MB996SB-6SB, there will be a 6TB capacity and performance speeds of up to 4x faster than a single drive but a fault tolerance of two failed drives. With the two drive failure tolerance, data is protected even if a second drive fails while the array is rebuilding after one drive failed or when a wrong disk is hot-swapped due to operator error. Though RAID-5 has slightly better performance, RAID-6 is the better option when a large and reliable storage is required.

Improve Performance with SSD
With SSDs becoming better and cheaper, many are turning to them to replace their current HDD solution. SSDs may have slightly lower capacity and a higher price, but the added benefits they provide outweighs their drawbacks. With a small size, SSDs save physical space yet have lower power usage, generates less heat which lengths drive lifetime, better shock protection and of course, faster R/W speeds compared to HDDs.

When Storagereview.com tested our MB996SP-6SB with six 200GB Kingston SSDNow E100 enterprise SSDs, they measured a total write speed of 1,395MB/s and a read speed of 3,240MB/s. They also tested random 4K transfers and received faster random access speeds with write speeds of 262,628 IO/s and read speeds of 341,114 IO/s when performing random 4K transfers. This means that SSDs, along with the MB996SP-6SB, are for highly used servers where random access speeds are important.

With the MB996SP-6SB all metal build and 6 SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE1T0BW 2.5″ 1TB SATA III TLC SSD in RAID-5, you can have a compact 5TB server with data protection in the space of a 5.25″ bay. The MB996SP-6SB is designed to fit any 2.5″ HDD/SSD in both 7 and 9.5mm drive height. So whether you prefer using the newer 7mm height SSD such as Intel 530, Crucial M500, Samsung 840, Mushkin Enhanced Chronos, Seagate 600 and Kingston SSDNow or any standard 9.5mm height 2.5″ SSD such as Intel 335 / 520 series, Crucial C300 / M4, OCZ Vertex 4 and Kingston HyperX, it will all mount with the MB996SP-6SB.

Why ToughArmor?
The MB996SP-6SB is part of our ToughArmor series mobile rack. The designs are for industrial, military and medical systems as well as high performance server builds. The ability to fit 6 x 2.5″ HDD into a 5.25″ bay allows support for a range of applications in a high capacity and space saving design. Not only can it run RAID-5 and RAID-6, it allows the option of doing different combinations of RAIDs such as putting four drives in RAID-0 plus a RAID-1 array for backup.

The MB996SP-6SB is capable of holding up in various environments with its metal construction. The heat dissipation of the metal body along with anti-vibration technology and EMI grounding provides a stable environment for the HDDs or SSDs used and improves their lifespan and reliability.

As a product for 2.5″ small form factor, the MB996SP-6SB and other similar products consists of many small parts and having durable parts is important. However, unlike the MB996SP-6SB which has an all metal build, other similar products use plastic parts which will break easier than metal. The all metal build is an advantage when it comes to product durability and protecting investments inside.

The MB996SP-6SB comes with our 3 year warranty.

Key Features:

Metal construction from the inside out for rugged applications and is compliant with flammability requirements
Drives are removable and hot-swappable
High density design, fits up to 6 x 2.5″ SSD in a single 5.25″ device bay
Support latest 2.5″ SSD or HDD from 7mm to 9.5mm height
Covered by 3-year warranty with global customer support
Manufacturer direct support provided by ICY DOCK