Final Thoughts
If you are looking for some serious external storage space then the MB561US-4S-1 is perfect for you. It supports up to 4 SATA hard drives so you can imagine how much storage you can have. Installing drives in the enclosure is very easy and only takes a few minutes and as I said the cradles are the same as many other ICY DOCK enclosures so you could move files from one system to another with ease if you wanted.
There are 2 things that really set the MB561US-4S-1 apart from other multi-bay external enclosures out there. The first is its design. The MB561US-4S-1 is one of the sexiest external enclosures that I’ve seen! The aluminum design and Apple-like looks really make it attractive. This is one enclosure you definitely want to have sitting on your desk!
The second thing is that the MB561US-4S-1 has an eSATA port multiplier built right into it. Many multi-bay external enclosures with eSATA connections do not have a port multiplier in them. That means that unless your motherboard supports the port multiplier function you can only access one of the hard drives. So with a port multiplier you can have access to all 4 of your drives with a single eSATA cable.
Right now the MB561US-4S-1 sells for $269.99 at my favorite online retailer, which is a good price considering the addition of the built in eSATA port multiplier. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ICY DOCK MB561US-4S-1 Quad Bay External Enclosure a 10 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Sleek and stylish design
– Can fit up to 4 hard drives
– Easy installation
– eSATA port multiplier
– Great cooling
Cons:
– None that I found
