Hard Drive Dock-Backup Is A Snap?

Do you want to forego the internal connection of a hard drive in your desktop, or do you need more space in your laptop, or do you just want a hard drive to store your data, but you don't have the space? Well then, you're in luck. A hard drive dock may very well be your solution.

A hard drive dock is an excellent accessory for your laptop or desktop. The dock will give your system access to the new hard drive without internal writing or power connections. If your computer's hard drive crashes, all you need to do is place an external hard drive into the slot of hard drive dock and recover your data.

Accessories: Hard Drive Dock (Toaster) and It's Uses

A hard drive toaster (also called hard drive docks) is a device that allows you to plug in your regular internal hard drives, as though they were pop-in flash drives. This is how it works.

You drop in your hard drive, and the dock instantly gives your system access to the drive, no wiring, no power connections, it's done by the hard drive toaster. In addition, some hard drive toasters can handle both 2.5 and 3.5 SATA hard drives at once.

The external hard drive can either remain connected at all times, or you can disengage the drive and use it only to backup your system information. This is a great way to back up your hard drive for your desktop and laptop if you should have a system failure. Below is a sample of what a hard drive dock looks like.

Pros:

1. Some units come with a usb cable, esata cable and backplate connecter and
power supply.

2. Provides extra disk space anywhere needed

3. Can be used to move large data that will not fit on a USB flash drive between rooms, offices etc

4. If you have a desktop and a notebook, look for a hard drive dock that let's you switch between both the 2.5" hard drive and the 3.5" hard drive, so you have the option of backing up your data on both units.

5. A hard drive dock can can very useful when your computer crashes.

Cons:

Not all computers allow you to hot swap eSata. Therefore, there is some shareware utilities you can use if you need to hotswap the unit so you can remove the drives with out any write failures.

Freeware: hotswap, unlocker

Thermaltake BlacX eSATA USB Docking Station

Supports all 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard disk drives, up to 2 TB
Hot-Swap Capability for Rapid Multi HDDs Access and Exchange
Supports eSATA Transfer Speed up to 3Gbps
Supports USB 2.0 Transfer Speed up to 480Mbps
Compact Docking Station Design Maximizes Heat Dissipation & Exhaust

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Thermaltake Sata HDD USB Docking Station

Supports All 2.5" & 3.5" SATA HDDs up to 2 TB
Hot-Swap Capability for Rapid Multi HDDs Access& Exchange
Supports USB 2.0 Transfer Speed up to 480Mbps
Compact Docking Station Design maximizes Heat Dissipation & Exhaust
Windows & Mac OS Compatible