Hard Drive Docks

[dogbert2]

Hi All,

I was wondering which hard drive dock is reliable and works well? I hooked up a eSATA bracket to my desktop's backplane and connected the two cables to available SATA ports on the motherboard.

Before I go plopping down 20-50 bucks on a unit, I'd like to see what other people use for drive docks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hi All,

I was wondering which hard drive dock is reliable and works well? I hooked up a eSATA bracket to my desktop's backplane and connected the two cables to available SATA ports on the motherboard.

Before I go plopping down 20-50 bucks on a unit, I'd like to see what other people use for drive docks.

I bought a Rosewill RX-DUS100 for $30 about 18 months ago. It has USB 2.0 and eSata interfaces. No issues at all. It works as advertised.

I don't use it much--every couple of months I drop a 320 gig drive into it, reformat it and copy all of my personal data to it. It's just another way to back up my data.

I use the eSata interface, which is a bit faster than the USB. It takes about 3 hours to copy everything.

Another alternative is a bare cable, which I have seen advertised for as little as $10. It does the same thing, but no dock. You just lay a bare drive on a table top and copy the data over.

 

[dogbert2]

I've done the bare cable and power route a few times...easy to do since the top comes off of the case, I keep a spare cable just to do that from time to time

 

[DocBrown]

Here is some ideas in this thread

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...ur-own-external-hard-drive-2.html#post1178823


Also check out NewEgg

:ar: Newegg.com - External Enclosure, External Hard Drive Enclosure, USB External Enclosure, Multimedia External Enclosure

 

[whs]

I use this one Newegg.com - XION XON-SAHDCB-COMBOCR 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB2.0 & eSATA Combo Dock Station Also gives you 2 USB2 ports and an SD card reader. Works well with both 2.5" and 3.5" HDs.

 

[James Colbert]

I recently picked up this one:

Amazon.com: Thermaltake BlacX eSATA USB Docking Station: Electronics

Works fine. I make rotating HD images, so I have several bare sata drives that I pop in and out.

I also have this front sata panel:

Akasa Thermal Solution

I used only this for a long time and was happy, but the dock is much easier.

James

 

[dogbert2]

Gonna go with this:

FRYS.com | KINGWIN

It's a KingWin EZD-2535 which has good reviews (34 of 'em)...with tax locally,
will cost me $21.60

 

[Zepher]

My brother has this and we have used it for quite awhile.
Amazon.com: Thermaltake BlacX Duet eSATA USB Dual Hard Drives Docking Station ST0014U: Electronics

 

[pparks1]

I have 3 of these ThermalTake BlacX units.
Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

1 is connected to the eSATA port on my DVR and spins 24x7. 1 is at work, and 1 is at home. All 3 have been flawless.

 

[nitroman84]

I have 3 of these ThermalTake BlacX units.
Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

1 is connected to the eSATA port on my DVR and spins 24x7. 1 is at work, and 1 is at home. All 3 have been flawless.

I have one of these myself, best HDD related purchase I've ever made.

 

[GeneO]

Ingest this equation Staic Electricity = Bad for electornics

These dock stations expose the electonics circuit board of the drive. You don;t even have to touch it to generate large enough electric fields to be harmful. IMO, they are only good/safe for the pinch when you want to copy an old drive to a new computer, etc,