XIGMATEK Secure III Extreme Speed Docking Station CPH-SPHET-U08 2.5" & 3.5" white USB 3.0 6.0GB

Pros: I do a lot of computer work for family and coworkers, so to be able to back up a laptop/pc hard drive into its original state is very important (can't fix it? back to how you were). With this, I can now save about half the time it takes to do a full backup without the hassle of ghost/clonezilla and a dedicated machine. I now just hook up a hard drive, and use Macrium reflect free to send it to my NAS. Have a virus-ridden hard drive? Plug it in and go to town. This has become a center piece on my desk now.

Cons: None so far unless you count the fact that there's only 1 hard drive slot. But I knew that from the start, so no biggie.

Other Thoughts: This is my first experience with this company, so I may try them again for the price... Although, I'm weary of anyone who would sell such functionality for a bowl of rice.

Pros: Great price.
USB 3 support.
Works with Seagate's 4TB drive (after a firmware update provided by Xigmatek tech support).

Cons: None so far now that I applied the firmware update.

Other Thoughts: I bought this dock to use with a Seagate 4TB drive I recently purchased. Out of the box, I had issues where if the drive was formatted in an internal bay, it was not recognized in the dock and vice versa (Windows would identify it as a GPT protected partition). After exchanging a couple of e-mails with their tech support, the technician e-mailed me yesterday saying he went out and bought the same Seagate drive over the weekend for testing. I received a follow up e-mail this evening with a firmware update. The drive is now fully recognized when plugged into the dock.

Pros: Inexpensive USB 3.0 dock. Quality cable.

Cons: Dock is larger than I expected. Have had it not recognize a couple of drives (320gb and 500gb).

Other Thoughts: Art doesn't seem to get that the LED on the front of the unit is a IDE Activity light and not a Power indicator. The light functions as the IDE activity light on the front of your computer case does. Art, if you want one with a power LED, this is not your device. Don't knock it for not having something it wasn't advertised as having.

Pros: Looks nice

Cons: Max 2TB

Other Thoughts: Who is using any drive under 2Tb theses days, perhaps your granny! We buy these docks to we can transfer large files on big drives and this unit is a fail in this regard. Probably take it back but a major fail in my book

Pros: It handles MBR partitions (2TB and under) just fine.

Cons: It creates GPT Drive partitions (3TB) in such a way that a drive cannot change connection type from the dock to inside of the computer or the other way around. This defeats the purpose for me. I wanted this as backup solution AND recovery solution for internal drives.

If you start a GPT partition when it is mounted inside the computer via SATA the computer will not recognize the partition when the drive is placed in the dock. The drive appears unallocated and raw. This is not an drive initialization problem. I've tried this in both Windows 7 and using Gparted in Linux. A GPT partition created on a drive from internal SATA can transfer to another machine be recognized just fine.

I tried the reverse and still had issues. I next created the GPT partition from the dock. I can move the drive with the dock to another computer and the drive partition is easily read as long as it is accessed from the dock. Once I decided to mount the drive internally via SATA, the computer no longer recognizes the partition! It views it as unallocated. Again, this not an initialization problem, it just doesn't recognize the partition table. From my various methods of troubleshooting, the best I can make out is the dock uses a proprietary way of handling GPT partitions. This is a HUGE flaw!

The major selling point of this style dock is being able to take an internal drive from a computer and recover data otherwise lost on another computer. This whole feature is broken with GPT. It worked fine with standard MBR drives.

There are also no drivers or firmware options on the manufacture website to correct this issue. I will be returning this product because I cannot rely on something that is proprietary in the way it writes\reads my data. Worthless.

Other Thoughts: I have other drives not using GPT (MBR 2TB and smaller) that seem to work interchangeably between interal connection and the dock without hiccups. I've used similar Thermaltake docks for years and have been very pleased with the results. I bought this because I needed a 3TB option and it was less expensive. I didn't think there was much different about them. I guess I was mistaken.

Pros: An inexpensive and convenient solution to avoid the cost of multiple large capacity, stand-alone external HDDs for frequent backups. It does have a power switch (not all do). Supplied USB 3.0 cable has attached connector covers. Data transfer rate appears to be limited only by the hard drive plugged into it.

Cons: None so far. The supplied USB cable is 48 in. long, which I find a little short to locate the unit conveniently, but not really a con.

Other Thoughts: I have four 2.0 TB bare drives that I use for data backup and to transfer data (mostly very large image and video files) to other developers/analysts. These drives are frequently rotated, depending on application, so this unit makes that process more convenient. As others have noted, the housing on this unit is not particularly robust, but so far it has held up well enough. Time will tell. I do agree that separate interface activity and power LEDs would be nice.

Pros: USB 3.0. LED doesn't turn on when there's no drive inserted. Simple packaging & instructions. Plug & Play and hotswap actually do work> just remember to leave the power switch on. Glossy finish.

Cons: Not really a con but you can tell they used they same plastic design for a model that seats two HDDs, meaning they could have made it a bit smaller.

Other Thoughts: Tested it with a brand new WD Blue 3.5" 1TB and the transfer speeds were at a VERY acceptable (approximately) 80-125MB/s write and 150MB/s read. Your mileage will vary with different HDDs, obviously. I use it to do backups, virus scans for other PCs using my main machine. For $25, it's well worth the cost. It does come with a wall wart but you'll like it overall & probably won't unplug it until it breaks. Source: I'm a bench tech.

Pros: No problems encountered with the device reading or writing data.

Cons: We'll try this one more time...

In response to Jesse & "smart person" and perhaps to other users who wrote negative comments about my previous reviews of this device...

A power LED such as contained on this type of device is designed (or at least supposed to be designed) as its name indicates, i.e., a signal to the user that power is or is not flowing to the device. Simply stated, if the "lamp is lit" power is flowing to the device; if the "lamp is not lit" no power is flowing to the device.

It is not supposed to function as a "connectivity" device. Again, the device's power LED should function as a signal to the user that power is either ON or OFF - nothing more.

As I've previously stated, the problem arises when the user finishes using his/her USB-connected HDD or SSD inserted in the device. When the user subsequently shuts down his/her PC in normal fashion the power LED is no longer lit. BUT POWER IS STILL FLOWING TO THE DEVICE AS WELL AS THE HDD/SSD THAT MAY STILL BE INSERTED IN THE DEVICE. There is no signal to the user that power is still being applied. On the contrary, because the power LED is unlit many (if not most) users would naturally think that the device has been powered-off. After all, isn't that the way all of our other PC-related devices work?

If the user can live comfortably with this design flaw and always remember to switch off the device even if the power LED is unlit, fine. Personally I think it's a terrible design for a device of this type because you can make book that many users will walk away from their PC after using the device and fail to switch-off the device, thus insuring that power will continuously be flowing to the device and to any disk that may be still inserted in the device

Other Thoughts: Unfortunately the power switch is on the back of the device instead of on the front or top of the device which would be a more practical design for most users.

Pros: Quick, nice looking design

Cons: Would have gave 5 but has a little sticky pad inside, this sticky pad is the guide for the sata connection, seems cheap, but for the cost I can overlook it

Pros: Does what it says it does, which is a fast connection through USB 3.0. It also works with USB 2.0, though nowhere near as fast (obviously). It allows me to do backups with a bare 3.5 inch drive. All the enclosed "external" drives I've used over the years have died, presumably from heat. Go naked!

Considering the price, at $20 it's disposable. Which is precisely what I want.

Cons: Feels slighty cheap, since it's so light. If this bugs you, do like the old corded phone manufacturers did: glue a metal bar to the bottom for a feeling of solidity.

I have no opinion on the light, and I like having a power switch, though I'd prefer it in the front. I'd really like to have 4 LED's... Power, USB 2 connection, USB 3 connection and activity. But at $20, I'm loving it.

Other Thoughts: If you have an open 5.25" slot, and drivers that allow hot swapping, a removable SATA tray would do you better in most situations. It just isn't possible for SATA -> USB 3 to be faster than SATA by itself.

On the other hand, no laptops have 5.25" slots, so this is your only decent choice with a lappy.

I bought two several months ago, expecting I'd need the second sometime, and sure enough, I absolutely had to have the second last night at home at 2:00 am. to work with my Mac Mini.