We're not going to benchmark a SATA hard drive in the IcyDock M122SKGF because serial ATA devices like this do not have any significant impact on data transfer speeds.

Powered up but hard drive inaccessible?

With many removable hard drive racks a little LED lets the operator know when the hard drive is powered up and ready to be accessed. The situation is slightly different with the IcyDock M122SKGF because the LCD receives power once the caddy is inserted into the bay. Yet, just because LCD is illuminated doesn't mean the HDD is accessible in WindowsXP (or the operating system). To ensure that the HDD is up and running, the lock must be engaged.

This little step is easily forgotten when using the IcyDock M122SKGF, and it can lead to frustrating moments. So make a habit of engaging the lock when the hard drive caddy is put into the bay, every time.

Removable Hard Drive Rack Style

Anyone who has ever had to move a large amount of data around a few different computer systems can definitely appreciate the usefulness of removable hard drive racks. Unfortunately for hardware enthusiasts, most of the units on the market are lacking in terms of cosmetic appeal, and work with IDE devices only.

The IcyDock M122SKGF is a nice looking removable SATA rack that sports a few interesting features that give it some added eye-candy appeal. The caddy has simple temperature monitoring, "enhanced hard drive cooling" and sensor alarms.

The construction of the IcyDock M122SKGF and caddy is based on extruded aluminum frame parts, and should hold up well in the long run. There is a buffer between the Serial ATA controller and HDD, but the IcyDock M122SKGF does not disrupt performance one bit. This is what we want to see from a simple device like this. It wouldn't be very useful of the removable hard drive rack limited HDD access times, or caused some instability in data transfer now would it?

With a retail price of $40 CDN ($35 USD / £20GBP), the IcyDock M122SKGF is slightly more expensive than the average hard drive removable rack, but the extra money definitely get you a nice looking SATA device.