Multicard-lovin' dual SATA HDD dock keeps the dream alive

It's funny, really. Years back, we figured this SATA HDD dock was a one-off device that would get swept under the rug as quickly as it reached prominence. And yet, here we are in May of 2009 looking at the latest iteration of a product that won't ever stop reinventing itself. Brando's Dual SATA HDD Multi-Function Dock with One Touch Backup (yeah, seriously) doubles up on elder models by holding two 2.5- or 3.5-inch hard drives, and it also accepts a litany of flash cards. Lastly, this adds an eSATA connector to the traditional USB 2.0 socket for a bit more flexibility, but we still can't justify the $89 price if you already own a predecessor (or three).

[dUN @ May 20th 2009 8:24PM]

Needs a LAN port...

[Beastage @ May 20th 2009 8:48PM]

Nah. turning this into a NAS will double the price at least.

[wpmarshall @ May 20th 2009 10:46PM]

Why the heck doesn't something that can contain so much data not support USB 3.0? The spec was finalized 6 months ago.

[wpmarshall @ May 20th 2009 10:47PM]

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.

[Daza @ May 21st 2009 3:15AM]

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..

[RioRyan @ May 20th 2009 8:27PM]

They're like the opposite of Apple. Instead of holding back features everyone wants, they're throwing in more things nobody realized they needed!

[yopladas @ May 20th 2009 8:52PM]

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.

[Jonathan @ May 20th 2009 10:55PM]

Apple would just have a small white box with 20 dongles hanging off of it.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ May 20th 2009 11:20PM]

@ 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.

[yopladas @ May 20th 2009 8:27PM]

SWEEEEET!! GOing to buy!

[Raim @ May 20th 2009 8:28PM]

If only I had a user for this guy. Maybe I'll pick it up just in case.

[Derek @ May 20th 2009 8:37PM]

I know the feeling. The ubergeek in me really wants one, but I honestly have no use for it.

[Sonny @ May 20th 2009 8:49PM]

If it had an ipod dock I would be sold.

[Major4Play @ May 20th 2009 8:34PM]

Great addition to any computer workshop, me want.

[Q @ May 20th 2009 8:49PM]

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.

[NoAndThen @ May 21st 2009 1:20AM]

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.

[blackfeathers @ May 20th 2009 8:49PM]

gotta love how the specs on the site say 'complaints with...' only current standard it needs is firewire800 to be more utilitarian.

[va jj @ May 20th 2009 9:01PM]

they need to make a IDE version for legacy hdds.

[Justin Bell @ May 21st 2009 2:20AM]

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.

[anon @ May 20th 2009 9:05PM]

Why the hating? This is cheaper and much more convenient than a 2-bay external enclosure.

[Tommo @ May 20th 2009 9:04PM]

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?

[Moises @ May 20th 2009 9:18PM]

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.

[The Walrus @ May 20th 2009 9:17PM]

I do. I sleep on hard drives.

[Andrei Vassiliev @ May 20th 2009 11:46PM]

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.

[asc99c @ May 21st 2009 5:28AM]

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.

[AniMill @ May 20th 2009 9:12PM]

Where's the toaster?! And I don't see the coffee warmer! Useless piece of crap!

[tealfixie @ May 20th 2009 9:14PM]

i see nothing wrong with this...

[CJ @ May 20th 2009 9:16PM]

Dang. And I literally just ordered a single HDD dock last week.

[AniMill @ May 20th 2009 9:20PM]

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... :-)

[digitallysick @ May 20th 2009 9:30PM]

This is really great totally worth the money especially when you are in the pc repair field

[Damo @ May 20th 2009 9:37PM]

Engadget needs to "Recession Antidote" one of these bad boys!

[Sprngr @ May 21st 2009 8:26AM]

I'm with you Damo. Engadget, we're waiting!!!

[Damo @ May 20th 2009 9:41PM]

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 Walrus @ May 20th 2009 9:46PM]

The prongs are probably collapsible and are on the underside of the brick

[Richard Flynn @ May 21st 2009 5:09AM]

The cable on the upper-right connects the brick to the wall.

[flyingcolours87 @ May 20th 2009 10:25PM]

stuff 2 be added in cool gadget :)

[Rick @ May 21st 2009 9:05AM]

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.

[Slick @ May 21st 2009 12:10AM]

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.

[chad @ May 21st 2009 12:55AM]

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...

[bebop @ May 21st 2009 1:16AM]

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 ...

[Cy Starkman @ May 21st 2009 1:08AM]

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?

[NoAndThen @ May 21st 2009 1:30AM]

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.

[asc99c @ May 21st 2009 6:15PM]

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...)

[mark balcerak @ May 21st 2009 1:58AM]

needs a IDE port to be considered a useful tool in my eyes.

[ill trooper @ May 21st 2009 3:12AM]

You can't see it but there is a VHS deck on the right side. No lie.


.
OK, lie.

[Adrian G @ May 21st 2009 7:57AM]

MultiCard-lovin........Mclovein?

[molecule-eye @ May 21st 2009 9:06AM]

Sweet. Over the numerous years of upgrading laptop drives, etc. all these external enclosures become a nuisance. This thing'll be quite handy.

[JrA 2I9 pSu @ May 21st 2009 9:40AM]

that's ridiculous...ridiculously awesome!

[Eric @ May 21st 2009 10:55AM]

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.

[snowglyder @ May 21st 2009 11:06AM]

I would LOVE some built-in RAID.... preferably with ALL media you can plug in it.

That's the next release.