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Algeria, Algiers
1 Level
425 Review
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Review on ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ StarTech.com SATA Dock - SuperSpeed USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station for 2.5/3.5 Hard Drives - Black, 1 Bay by Roberta Foell

Revainrating 5 out of 5

works very well in the Computers & Accessories category

I have been involved with computers professionally since 1994. StarTech is one of those companies that makes reliable but a bit boring computer peripherals. They tend to avoid snagging the latest and greatest "things" and wait until they see a peripheral that has staying power. That's what the Doc is. All of my clients are currently using external docking stations to secure their servers and I have tried several docking stations from different manufacturers. Early USB2 docking stations often had problems with large drives, being recognized by different operating systems, and so on. But while Startech's docks may seem boring, boring solutions are exactly what you need in a backup solution. Reliable and boring! I warn you one thing: DO NOT buy this docking station (or any other USB3 docking station) if your computer only has USB2 ports. Get a USB3 card if you buy one for this installation. In theory, USB should "switch" to a slower speed, but with backup docks, the USB3 docks often disconnect from the USB2 connector when you write to the hard drive for hours. Ebay is full of used USB2 docking stations for this scenario. I particularly like the "soft" power button on the front of this docking station. I've used cheaper docking stations that use small mechanical rocker switches on the back and those switches have failed. Sometimes when changing a drive, you need to power cycle the dock for the computer to recognize the drive change, and this dock makes it easy. Finally, with this dock, and with all docks, it is important that the drive be fully seated and snug against the fingers of the dock.

Pros
  • Hard Drive Enclosures
Cons
  • Minor Repairability