Thoughts on HD Dock

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E3xtc

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#189578 5-Jan-2016 10:59

Hey all,

Am thinking about getting a HD dock to take periodic backups for total system meltdowns - ie backup to disk, put disk in safe.

I would prefer something that has 2 docks for SATA drives (so ideally ability to cater for 2 drives would be cool - but not 100% essential), and would also like to take advantage of the eSata connection as my USB3 is somewhat not happy (long story).

Any ideas/comments :)

Cheers

ajobbins

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#1461489 5-Jan-2016 11:39

How much data do you need to backup? Cloud not an option? (Much more set and forget)

Twitter: ajobbins

E3xtc

782 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1461494 5-Jan-2016 11:43

yeah don't want to go to the cloud - want to retain it all local. Thanks for the thought though :)

nzkiwiman

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#1461511 5-Jan-2016 11:52

I have two Vantec Nexstar docks attached to my Intel NUC
An always on, always connected USB 3 Dual Slot that currently holds a 2TB WD Black Drive and an older USB 2/eSATA Single Slot that I use when I want to access my media library

My old tower system used to have eSATA which is why I brought the eSATA version of the single slot dock back in 2009(?) and would not recommend - for Windows to see a newly inserted hard drive, the computer had to be rebooted.

My only other issue is that with the drive attached and turned on, there is a 30-45 second wait every time the drive needs to power up to access data
Don't seem to be able to tell the device not to sleep

Regarding the backups - I run a weekly backup using SyncToy to manage specific folders so that I have a copy of the contents of a folder on C Drive (OS Drive, SSD) to D Drive (Dock, HDD) and then manually run from D Drive to E Drive (Portable USB Hard Drive).

timmmay

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#1461583 5-Jan-2016 12:36

I prefer enclosures - they cost more by physically protect the drive.