What is this for?

tjc28

Hi folks can someone explain what this item here is used for

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/DYNAMODE-25andquot-and-35andquot-SATA-USB30-Docking-Station/308391/6.8

I'm wondering is a cheap way of recovering data for a broken external harddrive. I have one that isn't working but I've no idea if its the actual harddrive or just the interface that is damaged.

Thanks,

aperture_nuig

It's for plugging internal hard drives into a pc or laptop over usb, so if the interface is damaged on your external hd this would work, but IMO its much more likely that the actual hd is gone not the interface.

yoyo

Your always best off hooking up drives internally in a computer, particularly SATA ones, those caddies can be extremely hit and miss

Nick

bette

yoyo wrote: »

Your always best off hooking up drives internally in a computer, particularly SATA ones, those caddies can be extremely hit and miss

Nick

I have one in use for well over two years and it works a dream. I use it for flash drives and SSD cards also! Mine does both SATA and IDE discs as well as IDEs for laptops!

coylemj

aperture_nuig wrote: »

It's for plugging internal hard drives into a pc or laptop over usb, so if the interface is damaged on your external hd this would work, but IMO its much more likely that the actual hd is gone not the interface.

+1 If you can hear the disk spinning then the motor is probably OK, everything else outside the disk assembly and inside the enclosure is solid state electronics so it's far more likely that you had a head crash and that caddy will do nothing for you.

yoyo wrote: »

Your always best off hooking up drives internally in a computer, particularly SATA ones, those caddies can be extremely hit and miss

+1 but if he has a laptop he doesn't have the internal option. I'd agree that for a single-use option at 36 euros the caddy just isn't worth it for the small chance that his problem is not in the disk assembly.

yoyo

bette wrote: »

I have one in use for well over two years and it works a dream. I use it for flash drives and SSD cards also! Mine does both SATA and IDE discs as well as IDEs for laptops!

As I said they can be extremely hit and miss, some are good, others not so much. They are handy things (think I'll be getting one for myself soon ) but I would always reccomend if OP can visit a friend/family member with a desktop to pop it in and see what happens as a second test

Nick

bette

yoyo wrote: »

As I said they can be extremely hit and miss, some are good, others not so much. They are handy things (think I'll be getting one for myself soon ) but I would always reccomend if OP can visit a friend/family member with a desktop to pop it in and see what happens as a second test

Nick

I use mine extensively and would be that friend/family member you mention. I use the caddy for that and it's fine. I had a noisy machine that really bothered me once and when I cannibalised it I found that the racket was from the HDD!

mordeith

bette wrote: »

I use mine extensively and would be that friend/family member you mention. I use the caddy for that and it's fine. I had a noisy machine that really bothered me once and when I cannibalised it I found that the racket was from the HDD!

I think what YoYo is saying is that connecting internally in a PC is better when it comes to diagnosing hdd problems. If you have a healthy disk then caddy's are grand.

bette

mordeith wrote: »

I think what YoYo is saying is that connecting internally in a PC is better when it comes to diagnosing hdd problems. If you have a healthy disk then caddy's are grand.

How is it better?

vibe666

because a USB caddy is a potential extra point of failure and they aren't always reliable.

I've personally used at least 2 dozen various 2.5" and 3.5" IDE & SATA USB HDD caddies and adapters extensively in work and at home over the years and at least half a dozen of them have had reliability problems at some stage.

i appreciate that yours is working fine and in your experience they are great, but having used one caddy for 2 years without any problems does not constitute a comprehensive endorsement of all USB caddies, particularly given how many hundreds of different ones are being sold these days.

yoyo

Just let me rephrase my previous posts, I was not fully knocking caddies as useless at all. I was simply pointing out that if you have issues with a caddy rather than throwing in the towel its no harm in hooking the drive up to a machine and seeing if it gets detected. With caddies/connectivity cables you are adding an aditional layer of complexity, which may fail in certain conditions

Nick

Sup08

^^
I agree, if you use a caddy/docking station for HDD analysis and the drive fails to load or be recognised, it is best as a complete failsafe to connect the drive directly to the MB to confirm that is is indeed broken.
Can be the difference in telling someone that their beloved photos/files may indeed be gone or they may have to pay a lot of money to a specialist recovery agent to get them back if they badly need them.