Hard drive docking station

Talasour · 10 Jun 2018 at 17:04

Hi, I was doing a deep clean of my house today and found an old PC with two hard drives (1TB and 500GB) and really want to know what's on both and maybe format them again to use as storage.

There's no need for these to be plugged into my current PC constantly so I was wondering if you could spec me a hard drive docking station that I could use to quickly plug and unplug these in and out without any hassle.

Any suggestions?

Talasour · 10 Jun 2018 at 22:36

I've found [Link removed] on Amazon but still want to know if anyone can suggest anything better.

EsaT · 11 Jun 2018 at 08:27

USB docking stations are best solution if you might need to use those drives from multiple computers.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/storage/accessories/docking-stations

If needing to use only from one PC and not wanting bigger accessories onto desk there are devices for 5.25" bay:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/icybox-trayless-mobile-rack-3.5-sata-hdd-ib-158sk-b-hd-107-bt.html

Talasour said:
I've found ... on Amazon but still want to know if anyone can suggest anything better.

You should remove that link because linking to competitors is prohibited.

Talasour · 11 Jun 2018 at 08:29

Thanks, I never thought to look on OCUK for a hard drive dock.

Link removed from my previous post as well.

rn123 · 11 Jun 2018 at 12:56

I have an Inateck one but it does get mixed reviews of failed copies. Could be user error, but now I have seen the ICYBOX ones on OCUK I will be getting one of those.

jammir · 11 Jun 2018 at 13:00

I’ve had a few of these over the years and have noticed they corrupt date after a while.

Talasour · 11 Jun 2018 at 13:02

npinn001 said:
I have an Inateck one but it does get mixed reviews of failed copies. Could be user error, but now I have seen the ICYBOX ones on OCUK I will be getting one of those.

That's the one I've been looking at on OCUK, I only need one bay and it's pretty cheap.

Rroff · 11 Jun 2018 at 13:07

I've used various Startech and Sharkoon devices over the years without too many issues, Anker do a USB/SATA adaptor that is supposed to be good as well but price seems to have gone up on that quite a bit.

I used some Icybox devices a few years back and had no end of problems with data corruption so binned them and not touched them since.

rn123 · 11 Jun 2018 at 13:29

Talasour said:
That's the one I've been looking at on OCUK, I only need one bay and it's pretty cheap.

Yeah. The 2 bay ones I can see the use for - but the reality is you are going to want to clone from external to internal or vice versa. ICYBOX stuff has always been good for me - used to have a 2.5inch to 3.5inch converter.

Talasour · 12 Jun 2018 at 08:42

Yeah I'm not interested in cloning the drives, just want to see what's on them both and them format them for storage.