HDD Dock VS Hot Swap Insert box?

[flambot]

Hey all.  Hope you're all having a good holiday if you have some.

 

Not sure if my question should go here or lounge??

 

I saw a post about one of these HDD docks http://pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=ENCVAN13202 on this forum longer ago than I care to remember.  Finally I've seen some here in NZ.  But then I saw this insert box that plugs into a 5.25" space that allows a hot-swap HDD connection http://pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=IDERAI12945.  Does anyone have any experience with these devices.

 

Initially I thought the dock was the way to go, but with the insert thingee it can plug straight into a SATA port on the MB - question is, how easy are the drives to get in and out of them (looks more difficult than the dock).  Also, is the hot-swap part good to go out of the box - as I saw another post somewhere on a simlar 5n3 thing that said a chip/raidcard connection was required.

 

Anything else one needs to consider?  This is actually for my windoze box (as I pull the 500mb HDD out of my unRAID server, I use them for backups).  Currently I have cables coming out the side of the case to plug the HDD into, but this isn't hot swap, so I have to reboot to change a HDD - painful, so I want a better option.

 

Thx for the help and experience.

[ilovejedd]

For what you want, the dock is better. If you've got an eSATA port, then try to get an eSATA dock for faster file transfers. Hot-swap bays often come with the disclaimer "hot-swap function supported only if both motherboard and OS allow it." If you have to reboot your computer in order to change hard drives now, it's likely that you'll need to do the same even if you get the hot-swap bay.

[flambot]

Thx for that.  Yeah...I was worried about that hot-swap connection with an internal solution.  The dock is something I can work with and as I minimum I know I have USB2.  I'll go a track one down locally for a hands-on look. Cheers.

[ReneV]

It's probably fair to say that controllers that are connected to eSATA ports by the MB manufacturer tend to allow hot-swapping more often than controllers that only have internal/SATA ports.

 

<Edited for clarity.>

[flambot]

It's probably fair to say that controllers for eSATA ports tend to allow hot-swapping more often than controllers that only have internal/SATA ports.

 

 

Good point - something I wouldn't have thought of as I don't know much about such things.  I have to pull out my PC to look.  I know my unRAID server has an eSATA port as I am using it.  It would be nice if my pc did as I'd like to get a dock with eSATA.  Can you get a thingee to add one?

[ReneV]

Can you get a thingee to add [an eSATA port]?

 

Yes, if you have a spare SATA port or, for that matter, a spare USB/IDE/FireWire/... port. The main difference between SATA and eSATA is the shape of the plug and in the case of eSATA-to-SATA, the `thingee' is nothing more than a straight cable with different end plugs. In the other cases, there'll be a small controller on the cable. Many motherboards are actually delivered with a back-of-the-case bracket with eSATA plugs and SATA wires to connect to the MB.

 

(Needless to say, though, the cables won't give hot-plugging capabilities to host controllers that don't already have it; eSATA-to-USB and -FireWire will probably always allow hot-plugging; eSATA-to-IDE never; eSATA-to-SATA sometimes.)

[ilovejedd]

Good point - something I wouldn't have thought of as I don't know much about such things.  I have to pull out my PC to look.  I know my unRAID server has an eSATA port as I am using it.  It would be nice if my pc did as I'd like to get a dock with eSATA.  Can you get a thingee to add one?

 

Yes, you can buy eSATA controllers.