Hello all,
After lots of thought, hours of research, and assessment of financial implications and complications in this bearish economy,
I finally decided to buy myself an external storage solution. Whether to go for an external HDD or to buy an internal HDD + casing was confusing me for a long time, until I luckily managed to set my eyes on the Sunbeamtech HDD Docking Station. This is the product which I’m gonna review today.
Package Contents:
The blue carton which houses the docking station comes with proper packing and contains the following:
All of the above are in a monotonous black colour (except the user manual, of course. ). The carton itself, on one side, has a set of instructions about using the dock with pictures. Very thoughtful, I would say.
About the Dock
Official specs state that the dock is 130 x 90 x 65 mm in size. It is fully black as mentioned above.
The top of the dock has a slot for inserting the HDD vertically. This slot fits a 3.5†SATA HDD. The slot is almost well protected by an L-shaped flap that is spring loaded. When the flap is in its closed position, it allows insertion of a 2.5†SATA HDD without any problems. The only downside of this mechanism is that the 2.5†inner slot is always open when there is no HDD.
Below the slot is the oval shaped LED indicator, which glows both red and blue. Red indicates HDD activity and blue lights up on powering the dock.
There is also an Eject switch towards the lower part of the top surface, and it is used to remove the HDD, though you can also simply pull the drive out. A good feature here is that the HDDs are hot-swappable, meaning; you need not shutdown the PC or the dock for changing the drives.
The bottom of the dock has four rubber feet to prevent the dock from unnecessary movement. Behind the unit, there are the different ports for cables. We have a power port, a USB port and an eSATA port here. In addition, there is a power on/off button to the extreme left of these ports. From various reviews on the net, I also came to know that the dock will auto power on/off along with the OS, though this not mentioned anywhere in the manual or box.
Installation:
Nothing unusual and out of the ordinary here. It’s a simple plug and play type device. Hook the device correctly and press the power ON button, and you are ready to go. People using Win 98 can download the drivers from the manufacturer’s site.
Performance:
For evaluation of its performance, I used a brand new WD 640GB AAKS HDD (that I bought simultaneously along with this dock) and my HP DV6516 laptop running Vista SP1. Software used was HD Tach and HD Tune. See the results below.
BTW, I could only use USB connection, as I do not have a desktop. So, all the above are benchmarks for drive performance over USB 2.0 port. eSATA was not evaluated, but obviously the performance would be much better there.
One other important aspect that I checked was the HDD heating. I used the drive continuously through the dock for a period of 4 hrs (backing up all my laptop data). Even after this the drive stayed only mildly warm and did not get too hot. This is good..
Conclusion
These are the pros and cons of the docking station that come to my mind right now:
Pros:
1.One docking station for all your SATA hard drives, be it 2.5†or 3.5â€
2.Drives are hot swappable
3.No case to cover the hard drive, so no heating issues
4.Easy to install and use
5.Both USB 2.0 and eSATA connectivity
Cons:
1.Only SATA support (no IDE drives)
2.Drive looks vulnerable without a casing
3.Storage of the drive would be an issue
4.Not portable
In conclusion, I believe this docking station is worth the price it comes at. At Rs.1950/- plus taxes, it is not cheap, but it is definitely a value for money product, especially for those with more than one SATA drive.
P.S: This is my first review, so pardon me if there are any mistakes. Comments and criticisms are most welcome.
Product Link: HDD Docking Station
After lots of thought, hours of research, and assessment of financial implications and complications in this bearish economy,
I finally decided to buy myself an external storage solution. Whether to go for an external HDD or to buy an internal HDD + casing was confusing me for a long time, until I luckily managed to set my eyes on the Sunbeamtech HDD Docking Station. This is the product which I’m gonna review today.Package Contents:
The blue carton which houses the docking station comes with proper packing and contains the following:
1.The Dock
2.USB cable (approx. 40†long)
3.eSATA cable
4.Power adapter
5.User manual
2.USB cable (approx. 40†long)
3.eSATA cable
4.Power adapter
5.User manual
All of the above are in a monotonous black colour (except the user manual, of course.
). The carton itself, on one side, has a set of instructions about using the dock with pictures. Very thoughtful, I would say.About the Dock
Official specs state that the dock is 130 x 90 x 65 mm in size. It is fully black as mentioned above.
The top of the dock has a slot for inserting the HDD vertically. This slot fits a 3.5†SATA HDD. The slot is almost well protected by an L-shaped flap that is spring loaded. When the flap is in its closed position, it allows insertion of a 2.5†SATA HDD without any problems. The only downside of this mechanism is that the 2.5†inner slot is always open when there is no HDD.
Below the slot is the oval shaped LED indicator, which glows both red and blue. Red indicates HDD activity and blue lights up on powering the dock.
There is also an Eject switch towards the lower part of the top surface, and it is used to remove the HDD, though you can also simply pull the drive out. A good feature here is that the HDDs are hot-swappable, meaning; you need not shutdown the PC or the dock for changing the drives.
The bottom of the dock has four rubber feet to prevent the dock from unnecessary movement. Behind the unit, there are the different ports for cables. We have a power port, a USB port and an eSATA port here. In addition, there is a power on/off button to the extreme left of these ports. From various reviews on the net, I also came to know that the dock will auto power on/off along with the OS, though this not mentioned anywhere in the manual or box.
Installation:
Nothing unusual and out of the ordinary here. It’s a simple plug and play type device. Hook the device correctly and press the power ON button, and you are ready to go. People using Win 98 can download the drivers from the manufacturer’s site.
Performance:
For evaluation of its performance, I used a brand new WD 640GB AAKS HDD (that I bought simultaneously along with this dock) and my HP DV6516 laptop running Vista SP1. Software used was HD Tach and HD Tune. See the results below.
BTW, I could only use USB connection, as I do not have a desktop. So, all the above are benchmarks for drive performance over USB 2.0 port. eSATA was not evaluated, but obviously the performance would be much better there.
One other important aspect that I checked was the HDD heating. I used the drive continuously through the dock for a period of 4 hrs (backing up all my laptop data). Even after this the drive stayed only mildly warm and did not get too hot. This is good..
Conclusion
These are the pros and cons of the docking station that come to my mind right now:
Pros:
1.One docking station for all your SATA hard drives, be it 2.5†or 3.5â€
2.Drives are hot swappable
3.No case to cover the hard drive, so no heating issues
4.Easy to install and use
5.Both USB 2.0 and eSATA connectivity
Cons:
1.Only SATA support (no IDE drives)
2.Drive looks vulnerable without a casing
3.Storage of the drive would be an issue
4.Not portable
In conclusion, I believe this docking station is worth the price it comes at. At Rs.1950/- plus taxes, it is not cheap, but it is definitely a value for money product, especially for those with more than one SATA drive.
P.S: This is my first review, so pardon me if there are any mistakes. Comments and criticisms are most welcome.
Product Link: HDD Docking Station
