INTRODUCTION

   Portable solid state drives may have managed to surpass portable hard disk drives in terms of popularity but since there are still not that many 10Gbps (USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2) models available in the market today people often decide to build their very own by pairing M.2 PCIe NVMe drives with external enclosures. That way not only one can get higher performance, capacity and even endurance levels compared to many factory-ready models but also a better enclosure (in terms of looks, drive cooling and quality). ICY DOCK has been in the business of developing high quality and performance storage enclosures for as far back as i can recall and so today I'll be testing their latest M.2 NVMe to USB 3.1 Gen 2 External Enclosure, the ICY Nano (MB861U31-1M2B).

   ICY DOCK is a privately held company with more than 24 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, branding and distributing computer data storage and enclosure peripherals, especially in industrial and rugged computer data storage. ICY DOCK became a global leader in the computer data storage industry, utilizing their designing and manufacturing capability since 1997. Adhering to strict manufacturing guidelines and having creative product designing teams in California, USA, ICY DOCK delivers highest quality products to exceed customer expectation and offers one of a kind product to satisfy customer’s need.

   The ICY Nano is a medium sized external M.2 NVMe enclosure based on the JMicron JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 bridge controller (type-C / Thunderbolt 3 compatible) which offers data transfer speed up to 10Gbps and fully supports TRIM commands. The enclosure is made out of aluminum and plastic (top aluminum, bottom plastic - the top acts as a heatsink which significantly reduces temperatures) and aside its hassle-free, tool-less M.2 SSD installation (which is perhaps its strongest selling point) it's also compatible with all M.2 form factors (2230/2242/2260/2280/22110) and supports hot-swap. So, let's move forward with today's review and see what ICY DOCK offers with their ICY Nano M.2 NVMe enclosure.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The ICY Nano arrived inside a small cardboard box that has a product drawing at the front along with its main features, 2D barcode and the company logo.

ICY DOCK has printed the main features of the ICY Nano on the base of the box as well.

Turning the box around we find the specifications table right next to several barcodes.

The enclosure is wrapped inside a plastic film and placed inside a formed piece of black foam.

Along with the ICY Nano enclosure inside the box you'll also find an thermal pad, two cables (USB-A to USB-C and USB-C) and the quick start guide.

THE ICY NANO

Measuring 150mm in length, 63mm in width and 12mm in height/thickness the ICY Nano is a medium sized M.2 enclosure.

In case you’re wondering about its size I placed the ICY Nano next to the EC-SNVE enclosure by Sabrent.

The activity LED and USB-C port are both located on the left side and are attached onto the bottom half of the enclosure.

To open the enclosure, you just need to pull the top from the bottom as seen above.

As mentioned earlier for the ICY Nano ICY DOCK has used the JMicron JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 bridge controller.

For this test I’ll be using the Sabrent Rocket 4TB M.2 NVMe SSD which should easily max out its performance.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Portable solid state drives are basically the same as USB flash drives and so we’re using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read & write performance numbers in the charts*. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read / Write speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Titanium 2020 (Read / Write speeds), AIDA64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear / Random Read & Write speeds), Crystal Disk Mark 6.0.2 (2GB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO 4.00.0F2 (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into those charts (0 = test was unable to complete with that drive).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a CORSAIR MP510 960GB NVME SSD* with all updates installed up to the day we started tests.

* Since August 2019 for portable SSD tests I started using the primary test rig.
** Since May 2021 i started new charts for standalone external SSD enclosures.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA TITANIUM / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

CONCLUSION

   The ICY Nano may not be the smallest M.2 NVMe enclosure out there but thanks to thickness, tool-less system and its very good performance it’s without doubt a very good one. Now I can’t say that I liked the fact that ICY DOCK decided to only use aluminum just for the top end of the enclosure but I do understand them trying to cut costs (still an all aluminum enclosure would also feel more robust). The ability to also use any M.2 drive in the market today regardless of form factor is also a very good feature. Granted most people will be using 2280 drives since these are by far the most popular out there but such features are always good to have, even if you never end up using them.

   Most M.2 NVMe enclosures are not particularly expensive but that doesn't apply as much to the ICY DOCK ICY Nano since it currently retails for USD68.11 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 68.89Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Unfortunately, with so many similar enclosures in the market the ICY Nano doesn’t stand out as much and due to its size, it simply can’t compete with much smaller and more affordable models like the EC-TFNE/EC-SNVE by Sabrent. Still, thanks to its performance, tool-free design, 22110 form factor support and thickness it’s certainly worth checking out if you’re in the market for an M.2 NVMe enclosure.

PROS

- Good Build Quality (Aluminum Top)
- Performance (10Gbps)
- Easy Tool Free Installation
- M.2 Compatibility (2230/2242/2260/2280/2211)
- USB A & USB C Cables
- Heat Dissipation
- Thickness (12mm)

CONS

- Size (For Some)
- Plastic Bottom
- Price (For Some)