XION eSata/USB2 dock experience

[whs]

I am looking for an eSata dock. This XION dock seems to look pretty good. Does anybody have such a dock and can give me feedback. Thanks

Newegg.com - XION XON-SAHDCB-COMBOCR 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB2.0 & eSATA Combo Dock Station

 

[whs]

Well, I guess nobody knows anything about the dock. The user comments on Newegg were pretty good, so I will take my chances.

 

[scoopeeedoo]

Yep, it looks fine!

I thought about that type of dock yet, must be useful for multiple purpose...

Enjoy it & Cheers!

 

[whs]

Yep, it looks fine!

I thought about that type of dock yet, must be useful for multiple purpose...

Enjoy it & Cheers!

Thanks for "encouraging" me, I want to use it to compare eSata with USB3 (for which I have an enclosure). And also use it to boot Linux from eSata on my Win7 laptop. Another use will be for imaging my laptop.

I like the hotswap facility. With my Sata 2 and Sata 3 enclosure I always have to fumble a lot to switch the disks.

 

[essenbe]

Looks like a good dock with several functions. Let us know how it works, I may be interested.

 

[DocBrown]

Thanks for finding that dock whs $ 39.99 with a $20 mail in rebate = $ 19.99 .

I am with you on this, I am going to order one right now


THis FRee Rosewill dock I got has proved to be very usefull for testing HDs

 

[whs]

Doc, did you see - it also has 2 USB ports which are handy to have on the desk and a card slot. Then I do not have to crawl under the desk when I want to read a card from my cameras.

 

[whs]

Received my dock today. Was trying it out with a 3.5" 7200 RPM HDD. A 23GB Macrium image took 19 minutes in eSata mode. The transfer rate was hovering around 250Mb/sec. I had hoped it would be a bit faster because it is imaging from an SSD.

I am just running it now on an USB3 port with a USB3 enclosure and a 5400 RPM disk. That took exactly the same 19 minutes - not too bad for the slow HDD. So I conclude that USB3 has a slight advantage over eSata - at least on this Vaio with an i7 and those particular disks.

PS: I do not like this unruly eSata cable. That thing is so stiff that you can hardly bend it.

 

[essenbe]

WHS, I don't know the computer you are using, but I have read that usually Gsata is a Marvel add on port and do not perfrom as well as the native sata3 ports. I also read that it is not the Marvel controller as much as it is the # of lanes of traffic the MB manuf. gave the Marvel ports. Supposedly they skimp on the gsata lanes to give them to pcie X16.

 

[whs]

WHS, I don't know the computer you are using, but I have read that usually Gsata is a Marvel add on port and do not perfrom as well as the native sata3 ports. I also read that it is not the Marvel controller as much as it is the # of lanes of traffic the MB manuf. gave the Marvel ports. Supposedly they skimp on the gsata lanes to give them to pcie X16.

It is this laptop with a few upgrades like a Vertex2 SSD, HD screen, 1GB GPU, etc. No idea though what the inners are - I never explored them.

I got this laptop only for toying around and teach classes at my computer club. Normally I prefer to use my desktop (which is old and needs to be replaced) - but that is a project for the fall.