(Credit:
NewerTech)
If you do a lot of work that involves transferring data from one hard drive to another, you'll probably love the NewerTech Voyager hard drive dock.
This the first quad-interface hard drive docking station that supports FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA. The device can turn any 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA hard drive, up to 2.0TB, into a fully bootable and hot-swappable external drive solution.
NewerTech Voyager is compatible with both Macs and PC and features plug-and-plug installation with no software or driver needed. All you need to do is plug in a new hard drive, and format it if need be. You can of course--and I believe this is the main use of the device--put in an old hard drive to access data from it.
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The new UltraDock V4 has a lot more to offer than the DriveDock V4.
(Credit: WiebeTech)A while ago, I got my hands on WiebeTech's USB DriveDock V4 and was very impressed by its versatility. The device allows for quickly docking any IDE or SATA hard drive, 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch, to a computer via a USB 2.0 connection.
Today, WiebeTech introduced the Forensic UltraDock V4. The Forensic UltraDock supports all hard drives and all existing connections for external storage devices including USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA. This guarantees not only the versatility but also the speed, making recovering data much faster, especially considering the ever increasing capacity of hard drives on the market.
The Forensic Ultradock V4 comes with a write-blocked technology that offers only read-only access to hard drives. This allows for downloading or imaging contents of a hard drive without the risk of data being written back to the drive. While this feature is generally not necessary for regular consumers, it is important for forensic field investigation to protect the "Chain of Evidence", hence the name Forensic UltraDock.
The Forensic UltraDock V4 supports all existing connection for external storage devices.
(Credit: WiebeTech)The Forensic UltraDock V4 is also capable of detecting hidden information on a hard drive that is not visible to certain operation systems. The most popular ways to hide data on a hard drive are Host Protected Area and Device Configuration Overlay. The Frensic UltraDock V4 can detect these types of data concealment and prompt the user via an LED to use special software application to access.
Like the USB DriveDock V4, the Forensic UltraDock V4 also comes with two power solutions: either with the included power adapter or from a power connector of a desktop computer's power supply. The device is built with a rugged aluminum case that can take a beating.
There's a catch, though, the Forensic UltraDock V4 comes with a hefty price tag of $250. I guess it takes a serious price to be serious even when it comes to drive docking. However, if you don't need the Forensic notion, there's a regular version of the device called UltraDock V4 that costs $50 less. Still, it's significantly more expensive than the USB DriveDock V4
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(Credit:
Ultra)
Some of us at Crave debated whether to post this item because of public-health responsibilities. We try not to encourage anything that might worsen the national epidemic of hoarding that apparently affects many of our readers (and some staffers).
So if you have any pack-rat inclinations, please proceed with caution as you read about this latest offering from Ultra. The "SpaceStation" is a hub about the size of a credit card that can dock six USB flash drives in capacities of 1GB or 2GB each.
It's good news for neatniks who need a way to organize their USB keys, as OhGizmo points out; at the other end of the OCD spectrum, however, it could just encourage more compulsive hoarding when purging might be a better solution. We're just sayin'.
The switch from IDE standard to SATA standard in hard drives has been going on for years, and at this point you'd have a hard time buying a new PC (Dell, Hewlett-Packard, or any other brand) that supports IDE. The fact that there are millions of computers that came with IDE hard drives, means that you cannot close the door on it just yet. Once in a while, you need to copy data from an old hard drive to a new one, and many times that older hard drive happens to be of the IDE variety. It can sometimes be a huge pain to have to hook an internal hard drive to a PC, especially for a temporary purpose. Working in the Labs, I run into the problem a lot.
DriveDock V4 hooked to a laptop hard drive.
(Credit: Dong Ngo)For this reason, I was thrilled to find out about the DriveDock V4 from WiebeTech. About the size of a matchbox, this little device allows for connecting virtually any consumer internal hard drive to a PC via an USB 2.0 connection. It supports both SATA and IDE/PATA standards and has enough port types for both desktop (3.5 inch) and laptop (2.5 inch) hard drives. It's really nice to be able to quickly hook a hard drive to your PC without even opening the case. Moreover, you can even hook a desktop hard drive to a laptop and vice versa.
The DriveDock v4 comes with a power adapter that's bigger and heavier that the device itself. You won't need this adapter, however, if you don't mind opening the PC as the DriveDock V4 can also draw power from the four-pin power connectors found in the power supply of most desktop PCs. It would be nicer if the device drew power from the USB port using the same data cable, but for now, and for $50, I am just happy with what it does do.
(Credit:
GeekStuff4U)
(Credit:
GeekStuff4U)
Before you plunk down for an external drive, check out the clever yet poorly named SATA HDD Stage Rack. It's like an iPod dock, but for spare SATA hard drives you may have lying around. GeekSTuff4U.com is selling the SATA HDD Stage Rack for the odd but reasonable price of $46.79. The dock accepts 3.5-inch desktop drives and--with an insert--2.5-inch laptop drives, and it works with both PCs and Macs. It's unclear if the dock can be powered solely by USB, or whether it's necessary to make use of the dock's DC-in port. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be an IDE version.
[Via Gizmodo]
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