Hi All, first post! (as per the first post icon that all other first posters forget about)
Just saw this in the catalog and couldn't find a mention elsewhere on OzB. Looks like a handy tool for anyone who has a bundle of hard drives lying around (as I do).
It apparently can clone drives as well, seems handy but unlikely to be necessary for me…I also couldn't find anything comparable on static ice.
Enjoy..
I'd be really worried about an IDE drive by now… Any drive older than a couple of years is data loss waiting to happen..
should i be worried about my RS-232 hard disk then ? :O
I'd probably copy alleycats and space invaders off as soon as possible. You've probably got 5 1/4 floppy originals anyway though…
Hey, i still have cassette tapes for my TRS-80 !!!
harddrives were never connected via RS-232….
custom built…
Hey, it never knew that you were that old.
Him mean RLL ;)
I still got dragons lair on 5 1/4 lying around somewhere :-) .
I got some 8" floppy disks if anyone interested.
They did on the Commodore 64, as well as via the Centronics parallel port if using Dolphin DOS (or similar).
That must be disappointing. Seek medical attention.
Still save my Sinclair ZX80 files on my cassette player!
I only used the TRS-80 Model III. It had DUAL floppy drives!
exactly, thats why it would be good for them to have IDE, so you can transfer the data off!
Be aware that the dual-bay red ones sold on eBay (with IDE + Sata) do NOT work with Western Digital drives. I have one, it's a common known fault that some sellers disclose and others don't mention
USB 2.0 to SATA IDE 2.5 3.5 Hard Drive Adapter Cable $7.66 delivered -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-2-0-SATA-IDE-2-5-3-5-Hard-Dri…
USB 2.0 to IDE SATA 5.25 S-ATA/2.5/3.5 Adapter Cable with no power adapter $2.82 delivered -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-2-0-IDE-SATA-5-25-S-ATA-2-5-3…
$2 cheaper than MSY…
Why, with that saving, you could "buy" two of their shopping trolleys…
German engineering at its finest.
I could go for Audi trolleys at Aldi…
Tech question: if using this while connected to a usb2.0 port, to copy data from "HDD1" to "HDD2" in the dock, will it transfer at usb2 or usb3 speeds?
My assumption is usb2 speeds, and the transfer will be controlled by the host controller… but we all know what assuming does…
Thanks in advance
it will run at USB 2.0 speeds…
or you can get a USB 3 card for your PC for $10-$15…
i just re-read your post about the copy function, if it's doing via it's own hardware, theorectically it could do at the speed of the disk's interface… data should not be going throught USB interface to your PC.
no way this thing is operating on its own steam and doing a 1 to 1 copy without data going through pc.
usb 2 for sure I reckon.
Why? I reakon it can. Else it's hardly a "1 touch backup clone function"
I am not sure, cloning a hard drive is not that easy/straight forward. Its not just a matter of copying files. Drive size, partition size, boot sectors etc are some thing that you need to determine. Therefore I am doubting it can do a straight clone on the device, I imagine its a software app that does the cloning.
But I am just guessing….
That "1 touch backup clone function" is most likely the same as what a lot of similar docks have, which is just a button to trigger the software to load on your PC to run the backup process. I could be wrong, but the price puts it in the standard hard drive dock category.
The manual tells me it's a one click process without a PC. 'To start the hard drive cloning procedure, the device cannot be connected to a PC or another device, next press and hold the button at the front of the device until the hard drives starts working.'
Source drive is A. Destination drive is B (A and B are marked on the dock). Drive A must be smaller than B.
Haven't actually tried the process out though.
We bought 2 of the the USB2 versions for the same price last year and they work fine.
Bought one (Fission brand USB3) last time they were on special, works fine although it requires some force to seat a drive. Haven't tried the clone function. Be aware that as a Fission or Bauhn they are a badged Chinese generic.
Can both drives be used simultaneously? Not for d2d copy but to be used as usb hd drives at the same time.
If you can copy, then that would imply that the drives can be seen separately. And anyway it's no big deal for a USB peripheral to present two devices to the computer.
So, basically, maybe, probably but not necessarily definitely? :)
Both of my drives show up fine.
Awesome. NOW I am very tempted by this. Thanks. :)
And no stock. :( Poop.
I paid $39 a few months ago for a similar SINGLE drive unit on EBAY.
This is a good deal.
I've bought this yesterday. Tested it with 1x250Gb Seagate Barracuda and 1x1TB WD Green HDD. I could not get it to work reliably while plugged into a USB3 port. When plugged into a USB2 port it works fine.
When it worked in a USB3 port, transfer speed would go erratically up and down and then at one point transfer would stop and HDD's would no longer be recognized by the OS. Both HDD's work perfectly fine in a single slot USB2/SATA dock.
Another problem was inserting HDD's. It took a few attempts and the fit was so tight I was worried the SATA connector would break under pressure.
Based on my experience with the older USB2/SATA dock, I give this dock a negative vote.
Thanks so much for the heads up… appreciate that! Hope you can get some sort of refund or service if you intend to return it.
By the way does these dual slot require the two hard drive to be identical brands and sizes for it to work? Could that be the issue since you mentioned you put in 2 diff drives..
see RKazza post above!
Just bought it. Tried on two laptops with no success. The drive spins up, but the computer has absolutely no mention of it in My Computer. Any ideas what to do?
Are they known good drives? Have you plugged in A/C (not just USB)?
It's a Seagate Barracuda. Was working fine in the computer I pulled it out of a few days ago when the PSU died. Disc is spinning and the light is on to indicate drive activity.
I have had a PSU kill an HD when it died before… The fact that its spinng and you get a light indicates its probably ok though. I would try different drives, switching the bay used, and then probably after that give up and take it back to ALDI for replacement. The fact that you've tried two laptops means its not likely a usb connection issue (unless the cable is stuffed).
I don't know of any drivers of firmware updates for this device…
I found another barracuda (80GB) which works fine, the 500GB still doesn't work. I'll try and find another way to read the 500 before returning it.
i wish it had ide as well