Hard Drive Replacement for PC

ignatzatsonic said:

I hope you are not going to put Windows on a WD Black when you now have an SSD.

You don't need a dock if you intend to have 3 internal drives: SSD for Windows; WD Black for data; WD Black for data backup.

If you intend to have an external drive, then yes, you'd probably use a dock.

None of them are what I'd call durable or heavy duty, so don't expect them to last 10 years.

Some connect by USB 2; some by USB 3, some by eSATA, some by a combination. You'd need one that matched whatever ports you happen to have on your case.

I use a Rosewill RX-DUS 100 that has USB 2 and eSATA ports.

Other brands include Thermaltake and Sabrent. Make sure you get one that will accept standard 3.5 inch hard drives.

You might consider getting Blues instead of Blacks. They are cheaper and don't have as long a warranty, but you aren't likely to notice the speed difference if you put Windows and apps on the SSD.

I'm thinking he is intending to use the SSD he just received for his OS and programs, one of the WDs for his internal data drive, and an external dock for his backup drive. I personally like the WD Blacks for their longer warranty but I agree a Black is overkill for a backup drive. I would suggest getting two Greens instead of a Black for the backups. It is much safer to have two identical backups so, if one backup drive should fail (it happens), he will have another one to fall back on.

@ OP. Orico makes some nice docks. Just peruse Newegg's or Amazon's selections and choose one you like the looks of that gets good reviews.

I agree with LF - I'm using 2TB WD Greens for backup. If you buy a dock I'd get a name brand and definitely USB 3. I can image ~50 GB on my SSD to a 2TB Green in ~7-8 Minutes. I'd agree they aren't meant to last forever and at ~$30 each I'd have a couple.

I am back! Sorry to leave the thread so abruptly but I got sick, was hospitalized for 6 days, rested at home for what has seemed like forever - and am now ready to get my PC running again!

I ordered the WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive this morning. Should arrive by Friday.

For now, I need someone to give me a link to a docking station to purchase for backups. Or, can I just purchase another one (or 2???) of the WD 1TB Blue or Green Hard Drives & put them inside my PC along with the new SSD (still in package/haven't opened it yet) & the WD 1TB Black Drive on order? I am finding the the WD Blue & WD Green Hard Drives are very close in price, so I should order the Blue, correct?

Do I need to make sure that the backup drives are also 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s?

Thanks for all the posts. I am deeply grateful!

Yes, the Blue is superior to the Green and, if you can get it for only 50¢ more than the same size Green, by all means, get it.

This is an excellent dock. The dock works off either e-SATA (at SATA II speeds) or USB 3.0. To use it for backups, I would suggest keeping it alongside or on top of your computer and turn it on only when you have a HDD in the dock (it would not a good idea to keep a HDD in the dock except when updating a backup). Also, Anker provides excellent product support.