Multicard-lovin' dual SATA HDD dock keeps the dream alive
By Darren Murph 
posted May 20th 2009 8:19PM
posted May 20th 2009 8:19PM
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Needs a LAN port...
Nah. turning this into a NAS will double the price at least.
Why the heck doesn't something that can contain so much data not support USB 3.0? The spec was finalized 6 months ago.
ahem...I meant to say:
Why the heck doesn't something that can contain so much data support USB 3.0? The spec was finalized 6 months ago.
No one makes USB 3.0 host controllers yet? Cost is astronomical? No motherboards with integrated USB 3.0 support, no USB 3.0 PCI-E cards..
They're like the opposite of Apple. Instead of holding back features everyone wants, they're throwing in more things nobody realized they needed!
I have a Mac, LOVE IT and don't need this. But because it is so awesome, I'll still get it for my PC as an excuse.
Apple would just have a small white box with 20 dongles hanging off of it.
@ yopladas
are you saying your mac & your PC live in two separate houses and can't share a USB device? divorce sucks. I'm sorry, man.
SWEEEEET!! GOing to buy!
If only I had a user for this guy. Maybe I'll pick it up just in case.
I know the feeling. The ubergeek in me really wants one, but I honestly have no use for it.
If it had an ipod dock I would be sold.
Great addition to any computer workshop, me want.
I've found SATA docks to be an indispensable tool. And with Apple excluding Firewire from Macbooks, it's going to become even more indispensable as an alternative to target disk mode.
I agree with you 100%. I actually have two 2.5" drives sitting on a shelf waiting for drive cases.. might just grab this.
This would be great for my PS3 actually.
gotta love how the specs on the site say 'complaints with...' only current standard it needs is firewire800 to be more utilitarian.
they need to make a IDE version for legacy hdds.
Yeah, that's the only thing stopping me from getting it. Pointless for me if I still have to keep something else around for the many old IDE drives I occasionally use.
Why the hating? This is cheaper and much more convenient than a 2-bay external enclosure.
I don't really see the use in these? Apart from the card reader obviously, but who keeps hard drives outside a USB enclosure or their PC in the first place?
You just gave the best reason for these. External inclosures suck balls when you constantly open them up to swap drives. This keeps you from having to have multiple inclosures as well as giving hot swappability without having to open your pc case. You obviously dont do much computer work. For those of us in the tech field these are extremely useful. Makes backups a breeze and lets me use all the old drives I have from previous upgrades.
I do. I sleep on hard drives.
This would be a PERFECT addition to a workshop or some place that fixes computers. It's such a pain to get drives in and out of enclosures when you need to do a data backup from a un-bootable PC before re-formatting it or something.
I don't have this thing, but I do have their original SATA dock - I use it for backing up my home media server.
A few years back, I expanded my media server from 800GB upto 1.6TB. The RAID card I had at the time didn't support online capacity expansion, so I had to create a new array and load all the data back from DVDs. Swapping nearly 200 DVDs in and out wasn't at all fun.
These days, my server is up to 4TB (and nearly full) and my DVDs are in boxes under the floor. Reloading everything from DVDs just isn't an option. So I've got most of my stuff backed up to old 400GB and 500GB hard discs. There's only a couple of dozen Blu-Ray discs that aren't backed up to HDD now.
Where's the toaster?! And I don't see the coffee warmer! Useless piece of crap!
i see nothing wrong with this...
Dang. And I literally just ordered a single HDD dock last week.
Since the birth of eSATA my backup methodology has changed forever - I never could abide the slow/clunky tape systems, and burning disks just takes you so far. These exterial docks are a boon and so very convinient. I jsut used 2 the other month to do a real-time HD capture to striped hard drives. I just hope that the shelf-life of a SATA drive is more than 5 years... :-)
This is really great totally worth the money especially when you are in the pc repair field
Engadget needs to "Recession Antidote" one of these bad boys!
I'm with you Damo. Engadget, we're waiting!!!
BTW, how does the wall end of the plug in this pic work??
http://usb.brando.com.hk/zoom.php?prod=Dual+SATA+HDD+Multi-Function+Dock+with+One+Touch+Backup+(USB+%2B+eSATA)&pic=UCABL009200_10_L.jpg
The prongs are probably collapsible and are on the underside of the brick
The cable on the upper-right connects the brick to the wall.
stuff 2 be added in cool gadget :)
Just keeps gettin' better and better. Yep, another excuse to buy more gadgets, and move my second dock to my work computer.
Kinda brings back memories of Micropolis shuttle drives from the early 90s.
I've gone through too many external enclosures that keep crappin' out on me. Drives get hot and these let plenty of air at 'em.
As soon as I see this guy on newegg, consider it bought. I can't personally justify this, but I sure as hell can at work.. Gotta love running I.T.
well, I am a PC techie type and I really don't see a utility in this thing, unless it offers push button byre for byte raw cloning for faster replacement jobs. If eSata works well, that's cool (heard it can be flaky in some docks), but USB2 would seem kinda slow to me for accessing two drives simultaneously and worse when adding flash drives, etc.
I wouldn't imagine 'opening enclosures' to be the norm, but the exception. I sell older enclosures and HDDs, not collect or recycle them with new HDDs... and a 2.5" Passport 500GB is plenty for my backup needs plus good size to keep in a lockbox or safe.. I regularly sync it with important folders on my pc and image the OS partition, copying to the same disk. If my internal crapped out, I'd buy another one and copy the portable to it.
On a side note, I have no idea why HD capture is listed as an asset to this dock and two striped drives, but maybe I don't understand exactly what HD capturing exactly... if from a pro camera, it's not like one is lugging around this thing and connecting it to equipment, practically speaking. If talking about either transfer of HD data from pro camera or recording OTA , a vanilla IDE drive will more than suffice...
This thing just seems gimmicky and silly, UNLESS you have a couple of unenclosed SATA drives laying around that for some reason, you don't wanna sell...
It's like the guy said earlier ... if you sleep on hard drives, this is for you. Use 3.5" drives like flash memory cards ...
No CF Card socket, still a prominent enough format I reckon. I use it.
This would be real handy in a tech shop regardless though.
How hot swappable are the drives?
You can never be too careful with HDDs. I'd make sure they were powered down before I plugged/unplugged them from the dock, regardless of what the documentation may say.
The dock has a power switch on the back - power down the drive, swap in a new disc and power it back up - the important bit is the PC stays up throughout.
Also one nice touch is that even connected through USB, the drive appears as a proper hard disc, and you can format it etc. Normal external enclosures used as a USB mass storage won't let you do this. (My IcyBox won't anyway...)
needs a IDE port to be considered a useful tool in my eyes.
You can't see it but there is a VHS deck on the right side. No lie.
.
OK, lie.
MultiCard-lovin........Mclovein?
Sweet. Over the numerous years of upgrading laptop drives, etc. all these external enclosures become a nuisance. This thing'll be quite handy.
that's ridiculous...ridiculously awesome!
No CF slot? Bunk. I hope they make one without all the extra crap. Just two slots and eSATA. There's a great SATA card for my Mac Pro on amazon for $45. With this and the card I'd be in backup heaven. Tons of 1 TB drives now for $75 at newegg, etc.
I would LOVE some built-in RAID.... preferably with ALL media you can plug in it.
That's the next release.
I want.
Hey, it comes with complaints built in! - from their website description...
Complaints with USB 2.0 transfer up to 480Mbps
Complaints with e-SATA transfer up to 3Gbps
Where else can you get such a bargain?
Wull I've bought one. The next day after this article was poste on Engadget.
It took Brando 11 day's to deliver it from Hongkong to the Netherlands.
Here's what I think (so far) of this dock:
I'm using 2 Samsung 1 TB Spinpoint sATA drives.
The drives are connected through the USB port. At the moment my PC has no eSata port.
The temperature in my house is around 22' C today and the drives run terribly hot within 10 minutes.
I've DIY a USB connector to a 12V fan and ductaped the gap between both drives shut, with only two small openings at the botom on each side.
The 5 V from the USB makes the fan run silent and after an hour of copying to the drives, the are still cold.
Some other problems:
The power button and One-Touch button both get stuck very often. Pretty bad construction.
The red Power and green Backup lights are impossible to see if you aren't standing straigh over the docking station. Both blue leds (drive activity) are clearly visable.
I have the feeliong that the drive's do not spin down after a period of non-activity. I need to test this further.
Last but not least, WHY did they forget to put in an CF card reader???? The box states 64-in-1 Memory Cards. And they forget on of the most used (by professional photographers)
CF cards......
USB Speed is fine. It's reading 16 MB/s copying files from the internal SATA drive to the Docking station drive. I've now need to sort out what extra eSata controller buy. I need one that uses 300 MB/s but also has Multiport support. Otherwise you can't use both eSATA drives simultaniously. Good advide here is welcome.
Conclusion:
So far, looking at the performance: GREAT over USB.
Construction of the docking station: Below par.
Drives overheat fast without extra (DIY) fan construction.
Question: Do the drives spin down after period of non activity?
Just thought it was worth mentioning that I just got this biatch in the mail today, and I've been using it, and it's great so far. I'll update if something negative happens, but I love it so far.