For example, Intel's USB 3.0 Drivers for Windows 7 are not UASP capable. But, the drivers you're using may or may not support it. Intel and Renasas/NEC host chipsets have UASP support.
Note that you'll need for the host controller chipset (the chipset your PC uses for it's USB 3.0 ports) and the USB 3.0 to SATA III bridge chipset (the chipset used inside of the docking station to convert from USB to SATA), to have UASP support to take advantage of it. You'll see a substantial increase in performance with UASP.
So, look at the specific USB 3.0 to SATA bridge chipset model being used in one.Īnyway, you'll want a true USB 3.0 to SATA III chipset with UASP support (like the ASM1053E or 1053E). Note that just because a docking station says SATA III support doesn't mean it's using a chipset with SATA III speed (since SATA III drives work on SATA II ports). There is now an even newer ASM1153E (Asmedia 1153E) chipset available that is also starting to show up in docking stations.
UASP is much faster than BOT (most chipsets only support the older BOT Protocol which is more serial in nature, whereas UASP allows multiple commands at the same time without waiting on each one to be completed first). Its a true USB 3.0 to SATA III (not SATA II) Bridge Chipset with UASP Support. The Asmedia 1053E (a.k.a., asm1053e) is popular and a good one to go with. You'll want to look at the chipset the dock manufacturer is using. Some hubs are good, very few are really good - but this is different topic. Warning: avoid connecting through an external USB hub, connect directly to your PC/notebook USB 3.0 socket! Most USB hubs are very poor quality, and they may sometimes drop connection when duplicating high data volume - which defeats the purpose of the whole exercise. No need to connect to a PC, obviously you need two disks (some stations allow disks with different sizes), and obviously you need to be very carefull when selecting "copy from" disk! You may also be interested in option of duplicating disk to disk some docking stations offer.
Best brands (in no particular order, I am also sure I missed some) are: Inateck, Plugable,, Orico, Thermaltake, Anker, Unitek. In my experience both Sharkoon and Icy Box are both poor brands.
capacity of HDD they can handle - if below 4TB, this is older firmware, and older design. Good indication of a docking station being current design is max. Also be sure that a docking station is SATA I/II/III compatible, again, if "III" is missing, this is old technology. Be sure that it is USB 3.0, not many 2.0 only are left, and they are old technology. Yes, WD Reds works perfectly fine with a HDD USB docking station. I've got a dual drive dock, as I might want to copy data from one drive to another, or perhaps keep a drive as a 'permanent' back-up (minimizing the number of insertions/removals) etc. I don't trust the "hot swap" promises, nor the copy stand function.
You might want eject buttons for easy hdd removal. Stopping might be a problem, too - my dock won't stop the drives when the PC shuts down (they'll enter into a sleep mode, eventually). in the back, or with a 'software' hdd on/off switch like on my 121CL-U3. You can find docks with a 'hardware' power switch e.g. Maybe that's not a problem with the newer USB 3 docks, but just in case, check the specifications. Pay attention to the maximum supported capacity my old USB2 Raidsonic dock only supported up to 2TB hdds. I'm using a Raidsonic Icy Box USB3 dual-drive dock myself it's not bad but take a look at other brands, too. I have heard about Sharkoon and Icy Box which should be good brands for HDD docking station? Mainly the docking station is for backup HDD and speed is not critical, but USB 2 would be just so slow and the price difference might not be that big.ĭocking station should be reliable and have a power switch which won't start and stop the HDD everytime, if power network goes up and down. I'm planning to buy a WD Red 3 TB HDD and it supposed to be a NAS drive, but it should work with docking stations just fine?