Question 1

I have a StarTech  SatDock22RU3 and it is just junk! Is this one any better?  Ron

Accepted Answer

Its seems OK. If both drives are working properly the cloning seems to work OK.  However, we have not used it much.

We have reverted back to connecting both drives to a computer and using software for the cloning process. That way we can see read or write errors that occur during the cloning process.

Question 2

Will this work with cloning laptop hard drives..?

Accepted Answer

YES I USED IT TO CLONE DELL INSPIRON LAPTOP DRIVE. A 5400  1 TB HDD TO A 1 TB SSD DRIVE. WORKED FLAWLESS.  DID THE JOB IN 2.5 HOURS.  DID NOT EVEN NEED THE COMPUTER TO DO IT JUST PLUG INTO WALL AND PUSH THE BUTTON.

Question 3

I want to use this to back up my data and have it on two SATA HDD in case one fails. Can I write and modify info and have it duplicated on the fly? What about having it on 24/7? Does it work with multiple partitions?

Accepted Answer

I don't think you can do it on the fly.  Near as I can tell the duplicator feature is basically a sector by sector clone of drive 1 to drive 2.  It can do that even when not connected to a computer.  I boot up from a Linux dvd and use ddrescue when I need to clone a drive because that can handle sector read errors better.

I wouldn't use it 24x7 for two reasons.  It has no active cooling and some older drives tend to run hot, although that's not as much of a problem on newer low power drives.  The second reason is that I doubt the power supply and electronics are designed to be run 24x7.

Regarding backup, it's not real efficient to use the cloning feature to duplicate your backup drive because it duplicates the whole drive even if only a small part contains data.  However you could alternate your backup disks.  Assuming you are in the Windows 7/10 world, you should do a system image backup periodically, say once every month or two, so you can restore you computer in the event of a drive failure.  More frequently you could use the Microsoft data backup or your own robocopy script to efficiently backup up just your data folders as files change.

When connected with the eSATA cable the computer can see only one drive even if you have two drives in the carrier.  However, eSATA is a full speed SATA connection which can be useful at times.  But with a USB connection, it can see both drives and assign drive letters and of course runs at USB speeds.  Cheers.

Question 4

can i trassfer an old disk to the computer?

Accepted Answer

Are you asking if you are asking if you can transfer an old disk of data to the C drive of the computer that the machineis pluged to yes.....

If you want to copy a operating system disk to the c drive for booting no.  You will have to remove the computers c drive and then clone with unit in both bays.

Brand	StarTech.com
Model	SDOCK2U33RE

Color	Black
Size	2.5" & 3.5"
Type	others
Internal Interface	SATA
External Interface	USB 3.0 & eSATA
HDD Count Supported	Dual HDD
Maximum Capacity (per Bay)	Currently tested with up to 4TB 7200 RPM 3.5" hard drives per bay (8TB total) and 2TB 5900 RPM 2.5" hard drives (2TB total)
Specifications	Drive Installation: Removable Chipset ID: JMicron - JM562 Drive Connectors: 2 - SATA Data & Power Combo (7+15 pin) Receptacle Host Connectors: 1 - USB 3.0 B (9 pin; SuperSpeed) Female Host Connectors: 1 - eSATA (7 pin; Data) Female Type and Rate: USB 3.0 - 5 Gbit/s UASP Support: Yes Type and Rate: SATA III (6 Gbps) RAID: No Supported RAID Modes: RAID 0 (Striped Disks) Supported RAID Modes: RAID 1 (Mirrored Disks) Supported RAID Modes: JBOD - (Just a Bunch of Disks) Supported RAID Modes: BIG (Spanning or Concatenation)

Dimensions	2.80" x 5.20" x 5.80" (H x W x L)
Weight	1.10 lbs.

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StarTech.com SDOCK2U33RE USB 3.0 / eSATA 2.5/3.5" SATA HDD/SSD Duplicator Dock – Standalone Hard Drive Cloner – SATA 6Gbps for fast-speed duplication

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