Review on 💾 ORICO USB 3.0 Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station Enclosure for 2.5 or 3.5 inch HDD SSD with Offline Clone/Duplicator Function - Supports up to 20TB by Seth Hogate

I only received this dock today so my review should be viewed in terms of very limited use. I have a Mac Pro model (Mid 2012) running Mac OS 10.12.6. (Yes, I'm a bit behind, but this is the last OS this old PC will run, and I'm not willing to spend the $6,000 minimum on a new Mac Pro!). However, my first impressions are: Pros: 1.) Extremely easy setup. It took about three minutes from box to setup to get everything working. All I had to do was plug in the power cable, plug the USB 3.0 into the back of the dock, and then into my computer and plug in the hard drives. [It currently has an 8TB Seagate, a 2TB WD, a 3TB WD, and a 500GB Seagate and still has one spare bay.] Although the docking station comes with an instruction manual, you can actually use a case that is not needed. The instructions for cloning without a computer seem pretty simple. 2.) Open Easy Disk Access. I think the dock style allows the drives to cool better since they are exposed to the air. 3.) The speed of the dock is comparable to other docks I've used. 4.) Capacity expansion. The dock can hold up to five 10TB drives (at least that's what the product description says). The maximum drive I have at the moment is 8TB. (All drives stay connected to my Mac with no unexpected ejections, which would make me send the thing back without a second thought.) I use it as a JBOD as it has no true RAID functionality. But that's exactly why I got it. 5.) Possibly the same as #4, but it turns out that all drive bays can be used simultaneously... ie the first bay is labeled "Source" (for cloning) and the remaining four are labeled "Target" " marked. . However, I have one "Source" and three "Destinations" full of drives just to use the hard drives as my computer's extended storage space to use the same as my internal drives. That way the dock doesn't differ (unless you want it to be required for cloning) so all bays can be used as JBOD.6.) Stable. It seems to support hard drives reliably and stably. Although the docking station is made of plastic, it doesn't look like it has any real breakable parts. After being inserted into the slots, the drives lie on their side and stand fairly securely without wobbling or anything like that. 7.) SILENT: No fans making noise which is a HUGE plus for me! Of course I can hear the discs turning from time to time, but at least no fan is humming! 8.) Clone function. Hmm... I think that's good... but I didn't buy the dock for it, so I don't care. However, you obviously don't need a computer to clone drives from "original" drive. 9.) Power Cord: This is also a big plus for me, although for some this is a minor point. The connector on the power cord is a regular connector, meaning it's not one of those blocky power connectors that cover other connectors on my PSU. This is really important if you have a lot of peripherals connected to your computer like a lamp, printer, speakers, modem, router, trackpads, other docking stations, iPhone docks, USB drives, etc. Peripherals that use block-type plug-ins are just annoying. Disadvantages: 1.) Cost. While the dock wasn't super expensive, it did cost over $125.00 for a limited-capacity plastic dock (more on that) that's as easy to build as it sounds like a bit much. I think the price would be more comfortable, about half of what you get. 2.) It's plastic. I know I've talked about this before. But this. It's pretty simple. It's not a big issue for me, but as mentioned, it does affect the cost. It doesn't feel brittle or break easily, which is a plus. 3.) Versatility: The docking station can only be placed with horizontal drives. For reasons of space, it would be nice to be able to mount the dock in such a way that the drives are vertical. It doesn't matter, but it's worth mentioning. The cables (power + USB) connected to the back of the docking station do not allow vertical installation. 4.) Versatility #2: All discs are separated when you insert a new one. And that brings us back to the question of value for money. Each drive does not have an on/off switch, so you cannot hot-swap drives. If you take out one and put in another, all the discs will be ejected. If you're charging more than $50 for a docking station, you should be able to remove and insert a drive without affecting other attached drives. This is a big minus for me. The dock is either on for everything or off for everything. 5.) Versatility #3: No extra USB port. It would be nice if such a drive had an additional USB port for stringing components. Again, for the price you'd think this would be included... I think the Sisun I have also holds 5 drives, has an extra connector and isn't plastic either *laughs*. 6.) Versatility #4: You can't set this up as a RAID. Not that I would, but again a question of value for money. It can only be used for cloning or JBOD. This isn't a big deal for me as I wanted a JBOD and it seems to work fine for it (so far). So, those are my first impressions. I'll update this once I've had it for a while if there are any reliability issues etc. They turn off the individual drives and replace them, come with them and have a fan, for $40.00 more. I also have a review about this dock. What got in my way was the notion that if you don't fill all the drive bays in this dock, the fan will make a horrible vibrating noise and the drives won't be as easy to access once installed. I thought the open style of this dock would be more convenient and easier to use which it is so far. So yes I think 3 stars out of 5 is a fair rating for this device. It's comfortable and convenient, good but not great, and a bit pricey.