Hard drive docks

[Arkitech]

I'm thinking of getting one this week, I have about 12 ide drives lying around my office. Most multiple drive enclosures cost more than I want to spend and it's a pain constantly swapping drives in and out of the single drive usb enclosures I already have. A drive dock sounds like a pretty sensible idea.

Any of you guys using one? Whath's your thoughts on it?

 

[corkyg]

The concept is great. A friend of mine just got the Vantec dock, and he really likes. It will take both 3.5 and 2.5 in drives, and is very much P&P. The only ctiricsms I have seen are that it is mostly plastic and con't be treated rough. I plan to get one myself one of these days, especially since it is both USB and eSATA.

Dock

It's a decent review - fairly typical.

 

[California Roll]

Initially I was going to give a wholehearted YES to drive docks. I have several Thermaltake BlacX esata/usb docks and they're a godsend if you have multiple drives.

Then I noticed you said IDE hard drives. There are no equivalent drive docks for IDE.

 

[lxskllr]

For IDE you might be better off using a external enclosure, but not keeping it together. The kind I have has a tray that slides into a aluminum case. I just keep the tray out, and plug up the drives like that. It's a little more delicate, but it's much easier to switch out the drives.

 

[RebateMonger]

IDE doesn't have standardized connector spacing at the rear, so no docking stations like SATA. The closest, as noted, is an opened external case or a USB-to-IDE adapter cable.

 

[corkyg]

Sorry - I didn't react to the term IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). All modern HDDs are IDE - they divide into two types, PATA and SATA. PATA IDE drives do not have standard interfaces for 2.5 and 3.5 connections. SATA drives are standard on both sizes. Ergo, a dock is not really practical for PATA drives.

I endorse lxskllr's solution for PATA drives. I have done that many times, and it works.

There are SATA adapters for PATA drives. It might be possible to use one, then connect to the dock via a SATA cable link.