Thermaltake BlacX 5G ST0019U ABS Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB 3.0 Docking Station

Pros: Plug and play (no setup required), incredible speeds with USB 3.0 and SATA III, great industrial design

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: After dealing with some HDD issues, I bought the BlacX 5G to copy my existing hard drives to a new RAID array. The transfer rate topped 120 MB/sec. on an old, failing SATA II drive. So far, I've used it to copy around 2 TB of data without any problems. I can't comment on long-term use, but the data transfer has been flawless.

On a related note, I think it is important to address some of the older negative reviews. Many of us were having problems with USB 3.0 drivers as recently as a few months ago. It's a shame that so many people dismissed the product without considering the wider implications of new technologies and new drivers. Now that USB 3.0 is stable, this product really shines. Some people had legitimate issues, but too many unfairly criticized Thermaltake for what was ultimately unstable drivers and hardware.

Pros: Works very good at USB 2.0 speed. No issues with 2TB drives.

Cons: Has severe issues with USB 3.0 transfer and drive recognition. I gave up on that more than a year ago.

Other Thoughts: Have tried different USB 3.0 drivers, even older ones on my ASUS AMD MB

Manufacturer Response:

Hello,

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please contact our customer service directly so that we can walk through some testing with you to try to resolve this issue. You also might want to check the Asus website for update USB 3.0 drivers or possible firmware to resolve the issue.


Thank you!


Thermaltake Customer Service
1-800-988-1088
M-F 9am~5:30pm PST
0057

Pros: Full usb 3.0 speeds certainly are there but some flukes brings this down two eggs

Cons: Does not read 3tb drives. Basically it cannot see teh file structure on a partition that is 3tb in size. seems to work fine with 1 and 1.5tb size partitions not sure about 2.

Other Thoughts: With the added support of the larger drive sizes this would be five eggs.
There was a moment when i had forgotten it wouldn't read a large drive and accidentally over wrote the partition requiring recovery software to bring it back online.
It was not the worst thing in the world but anything that costs you 30mins of work time is bad.

Pros: None

Cons: Drives were inserted into the Thermaltake 'Blac X 5G
were not recognized.
removed and found that the drives had been damaged and computer would not recognize when directly connected to computer. In fact causess computer to fail boot up

Other Thoughts: Even if I get a refund I STILL LOST TWO HITACHI 3GB
DRIVES,,,,,,,,NO COMPOSTION FOR $400 LOST OF DIVES

Pros: Looks good?

Cons: I had the same issue I see MANY others are having. It works about 3 minutes at a time and then just disconnects. After restarting and reconnecting about 5 times the unit would no longer work at all. The second day repeated the same process until it would not work any longer.

I have a new PC with Windows 7 x64 and intel i7. I updated my motherboard (MSI) with the latest bios and confirmed I had the latest USB 3 drivers. I also tried the unit on USB 2 ports and also disconnects in a couple minutes. I verified using my Western Digital passport that USB 2.0 was working correctly.

This unit was useless. I started searching and saw all the others with what sound like the same problem with the 5g so I returned it.

Other Thoughts: I can tell you I bought a different product/brand and it worked flawlessly. I selected one that is just a cable with connector and no docking station.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Al,
We at Thermaltake apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We will replace it through warranty service. Please contact our customer service team for RMA instructions.
Thermaltake USA Customer Service
email: ttsupport@thermaltakeusa.com
Toll free: 1-800-988-1088 M-F 9:00AM ~ 5:30PM (P.S.T)

Pros: The HDD dock transfers files quickly when working. Product came with USB 3.0 cable.

Cons: I had this dock for a little over a year and it suddenly died on me. I probably used it less than 10 times. I wasn't too worried about it because it has a 3 year warranty. I sent it to Thermaltake and they informed me it was not covered under warrenty because I had purchsed it "open box". Shame on you Thermaltake. It shouldn't matter if I bought it open box, refurb, or from a guy on the corner. Stand behind your product.

Other Thoughts: I bought the Rosewill RX-DU300 to replace it. I paid less for this dock brand new then I did the open box Thermaltake dock. It appears identical and actually feels nicer than the thermaltake. I have only been using it for a week but it seems as nice if not superior to Thermaltake. I will never buy another Thermaltake product again.

Pros: Transfer rates > 100 Mbps

Cons: The 5G failed after about two week of use - switched into read-only mode throwing error code -50 on OS X. My other Thermaltake BlacX (USB2.0) continues to work fine. Obtained RMA.

Pros: This cradle works great! I just put the hard drives in power it up and I can do whatever I want to them. The USB 3.0 speed certainly helps big time too! I wish I had purchased one of these sooner!

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I saw quite a few bad reviews for this but I took a chance. I think a lot of people who are experiencing blue screens and lock ups probably don't have the latest USB 3.0 drivers. I updated the firmware on it too just to be safe.

Pros: fast when works

Cons: locks up drops files all the time

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,
We at Thermaltake apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. Please update driver or firmware of USB 3.0 controller of host system. If drive still drops or locks up the host system. Contact ttsupport@thermaltakeusa.com for RMA instructions.
Best regards,
Thermaltake USA Customer Service
1-800-988-1088 M-F 9:00AM ~ 5:30PM (P.S.T)

Pros: Spec sheet gives it very high potential

Cons: Unfortunately it needs some improvement. I've been running Win7 on this machine for eight months and have never had a crash until using this docking station. It's plug in to a USB 3.0 port at the back and will work normally for a while, then the system locks up. If I reboot and play the game all day it will lock up my machine two time per day average.

Another thing, transfer rates are nowhere near what they should be for USB 3.0. Even with a high performance SATA3 500 MB/s SSD plugged in, I can only get about 100-150 MB/s. Should be at least double that, if not more.