Koldov Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 Hopefully an easy one, although probably not a very simple one as I'm sure everyone has a preference. We have just about finished upgrading our laptop fleet (and desktops) to SSD and have a variety of HDDs that I need to wipe or possibly retrieve data from. I know I can drill them or smash them with a hammer and although SSDs are cheap and HDDs have had their day... well I'm a bit of a hoarder and you never know. I'm not really looking for multi I/O, or cloning facility as such (do they deal with Bitlocker enabled drives?), or card reader capability unless it doesn't increase the price too much. It's just that the choice is overwhelming and 99% of the manufacturers I've never heard of and I'm also concerned that cheap isn't always the best way to go (although prices vary quite a bit between about £10 to £50+). It may just be a very cheap thing to manufacture, so I'm wondering what justifies the price of the more expensive ones (better components/materials?). Also I just think in general it would be a handy piece of kit to have... at the moment I have a few 2.5" enclosures but it usually means undoing little screws and plugging in and then doing it all up which is ok for the odd drive but not multiples and the 3.5" drives just don't get enough power (I think) to be recognised.
Norphy Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 Something like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-Docking-Station-Tool-Free-Installation/dp/B00IS7Y96I/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=usb+drive+dock&qid=1601630455&sr=8-5 I've used things that look very much like that in the past. I expect that they all come out of the same Chinese factory so the branding on them is really pretty irrelevant.
Jcx500 Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 Recommend this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LN0GX4I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1
Koldov Posted October 2, 2020 Author Posted October 2, 2020 @Norphy - Yes, something like that - was really looking for recommendations of specific kit that has been used and proved to be a good purchase. Or is it really a case of that £10 one will do the job as well as the £50 one - only I did a have a cheap'ish one go south on me a few years back - so once bitten etc...? I have looked around and it's a bit overwhelming to say the least! I expect that they all come out of the same Chinese factory so the branding on them is really pretty irrelevant. Exactly that! In the first few pages of Amazon all these 'appear' to be roughly the same (colour/shape) some with card reader, although I didn't read each individual spec: Leoie 875D-J Bestland Dual USB 2.0 SATA OUYAWEI Erelectronics PinShang 875D-J Fesjoy HDD Docking Station TenYua 2.5" 3.5" IDE SATA USB 2.0 Dock Redxiao Hard Disk Drive HDD Docking Station Kasstino All In 1 2.5" 3.5"IDE SATA HDD Biuzi Hard Drive Reader Tccmebius TCC-S862-UK Lazmin 2.5"/3.5" Dual SATA JIUY High Speed USB 2.0 Hard Disk Base Tonysa SATA HDD docking station Elikliv NEW HDD Docking Station ShiningXX Dual Slots SATA Edmend 2.5" 3.5" SATA/IDE HDD HotJack Dual Bay USB KLYJ Hard Drive Docking Station Riiai USB 2.0 to 2.5 inch/ 3.5 inch SATA IDE H HILABEE 2.5″/3.5″ Dual Hard Drive lettore DOCKING station 2 Hard disk Shiwaki 2.5"/3.5" Docking
Norphy Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 It's possible that the more expensive ones might be provided with a better power supply or might come with a better warranty or support but it's likely the actual hardware/circuitry is going to be much the same. I haven't bought one of those in at least five years so I can't provide a specific recommendation I'm afraid. From recent experience though, Ugreen and Anker tend to be the better Chinese brands for this sort of thing on Amazon. 1
MrEprise Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 If you wanted slightly cheaper, this Orico one should work fine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ORICO-Docking-Station-Adapter-Support/dp/B07SXR351R/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=hard+disk+dock&qid=1601633026&sr=8-5 I've used a number of their 2.5" hard disk caddies and USB 3.0 expansion cards without issues. 1
Koldov Posted October 2, 2020 Author Posted October 2, 2020 (edited) Recommend this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LN0GX4I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Looks like even the slightly more expensive ones suffer the 'all come out of the same Chinese factory' syndrome... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01K7GXMTC/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_5?psc=1&uh_it=a6fa688c637ad45b13105276f1afce4c_CT&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExOFg4RE1GVTZWQ0FWJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjQ5NDgxMVBZWTdKWDlEQTFJNyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTQwNzg1MzI2NDhLT0xKRjU1SCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNkX29uc2l0ZV9kZXNrdG9wJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== And £3.40 cheaper too! ;) Edited October 2, 2020 by Koldov
LeMarchand Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 I've found the "dust flaps" on that style can come off with regular use (though this doesn't affect functionality). I've got one of these, but it's in my kit bag and is only occasionally used (and seems to be OOS). I'd suspect that the hinge/guide for 2.5" drives might be a weak spot.
caffrey Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 If you have an old external harddrive , shuck it and use the usb gubbins inside for a free option. I did this with WD drives. 1
Norphy Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 If you have an old external harddrive , shuck it and use the usb gubbins inside for a free option. I did this with WD drives. Doesn't always work, depending on the size of the drive. A lot of USB hard drives also don't have SATA to USB bridges any more, the USB port is built directly into the drive. But even so, it's still worth a go.
Koldov Posted October 2, 2020 Author Posted October 2, 2020 If you have an old external harddrive , shuck it and use the usb gubbins inside for a free option. I did this with WD drives. I do have a couple of those around actually (and so far I have been using an old 2.5" enclosure gubbins with the drive just sitting on top of the PC) but I think maybe I'm just being a lazy and would like to have something shiny on the desktop I can just plop the drive into... Doesn't always work, depending on the size of the drive. A lot of USB hard drives also don't have SATA to USB bridges any more, the USB port is built directly into the drive. But even so, it's still worth a go. I did see that about USB drives on a previous thread when I searched before posting, but I'm presuming that's for reasonably modern ones - luckily (or unluckily) all my kit is years and years old!
caffrey Posted October 2, 2020 Posted October 2, 2020 I recently shucked a WD mybook with a 8tb harddrive in it and the bridge was removable - but yes not as nice as a proper thing but does in a pinch
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