Earlier this month, StarTech announced the availability of the first-ever SATA HDD docking station that supports up to four drives simultaneously. This device would be extremely handy for those who have various drives stashed away in dead laptops or old PCs sitting in the corner collection dust.
The docking station arrives in two forms: the SATDOCKK4U3E and the SATDOCK4U2E. Both offer USB and eSATA host connections, and support for 2.5-inch and/or 3.5-inch Serial ATA hard drives or Solid State Drives (SSDs). The actual specs are as follows:
SATDOCK4U3E
- Supports up to four 2.5-inch and/or 3.5-inch SATA HDDs or SSDs
- SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and eSATA connections to host with support for data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbps and 3 Gbps, respectively
- Backward compatible with USB 2.0 host connections
- High speed eSATA with Port Multiplier host interface with supported transfer rates up to 3 Gbps
- Dual variable-speed cooling fans
- Independent power buttons and drive eject buttons for quick, easy hot-swapping
SATDOCK4U2E
- Enables fast, swappable access to four 2.5-inch/3.5-inch SATA drives, from multiple computers
- Supports up to four 2.5-inch and/or 3.5-inch SATA HDDs or SSDs
- Dual High Speed USB 2.0 host interfaces with support for transfer rates up to 480 Mbps
- Four high speed eSATA host interfaces with supported transfer rates up to 3 Gbps
- Dual variable-speed cooling fans
- Independent power buttons and drive eject buttons for quick, easy hot-swapping
"Adding to StarTech.com’s extensive line of Hard Drive Docking Stations, the SATDOCK4U3E SuperSpeed single connection dock and SATDOCK4U2E high speed single/multi-PC drive docking stations are the first in the market to support four SATA hard drives or solid state drives simultaneously, offering users a practical way to maximize their external storage capacity," the company said during CES 2011.
Consumers can purchase the SATDOCK4U3E ($189.99 USD) and the SATDOCK4U2E ($186.99 USD) straight from StarTech, or they can purchase the docks from other online retailers including CDW, Dell, Newegg.com, TigerDirect.com and others.
