Question 1

is this product USB 2 backward compatable?????

Accepted Answer

Absolutely yes, it is. Not only is it backward compatable, you will very likely see slightly faster speeds than with a native USB 2.0 product because this unit uses a chipset that will not be a bottleneck when running at USB 2.0 speeds.

If you:

-can afford a relatively inexpensive USB 3.0 card for your computer (Please read reviews carefully to make sure you get a decent one)

-Are confident you know what type of slots you have available so that you can buy a card with the proper interface

-Feel comfortable shutting down you computer, disconnecting all of the cables INCLUDING POWER, opening the case cover (unusually just two screws) Blowing the dust out, or PREFERABLY VACUUMING it out, pushing the card into the slot, installing one screw, then replacing the cover and putting everything back . . .

. . . Then the speed gains by adding a USB 3.0 card would be justified if you are transferring more than a CD's worth of data on a semi-regular basis and would like those transfers to happen more quickly.

USB 3.0 claims to be 10X faster than USB 2.0, but real-world testing and my own experience suggest that it's really closer to being about 4X faster, which is still pretty darned fast if you're doing a backup of, say, 200 Gigs.

In the real world, that 200 gigs would take about 1 hour and 45 minutes using USB 2.0, while USB 3.0 would get the job done in about 27 minutes.

The other thing to consider is that this docking station is also capable of eSATA. eSATA would be slightly faster than USB 3.0, BUT, there are FAR more devices that connect via USB. eSATA is limited primarily to hard disks.

You could certainly use this docking station in USB 2.0 mode for now, and then add either an eSATA card or USB 3.0 card later if you feel the speed would be beneficial.

I hope this helps, Scott. I have been happy with my Orico Docking Station for several months now, and have run it eSATA, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, so I know it works well. The price is really great too!

Question 2

Does the product include usb 3.0 and esata cables for connection to PC?

Accepted Answer

Yes, however they are not very long (about 4ft) so if you need to run the cables around a desk etc, I recommend ordering a longer one later.

Question 3

i have 2 hard drive out of my desk top. one is a wd2500ks hard drive manufacture date of 11/14/06. and a seagate Barracuda 7200.7 hard drive date code 05265. will this work with both hard drives?

Accepted Answer

As long as they are both SATA they will work with this device.

Question 4

docking station doesn't recognize hard drive?

Accepted Answer

I bought two of this docking stations at the time time. One for widows 7 and another for windows 8.1, both of them have been working fine.
Please sure you have quite current technology hard drive, plug it in different usb ports and reboot the system. I believe this station design for usb 2.0, perhaps you may try plug it into usb 3.o. Otherwise, if you try this out it still not work, you may think about to replace it. Thanks.

Question 5

can you attach a SATA to IDE adapter to this for IDE drives? 
thanks to anyone that can answer :)

Accepted Answer

No.

Question 6

I have a seagate momentus 5400.6. Is it compatible with this enclosure?

Accepted Answer

The docking station should work fine with any drive.  Depending on the drive format you might have to use the OS drive mgmt app to see the drive. If you are not sure of the disk # turn the drive on and off and you will see the drive #.

Question 7

Can this be used with a 2TB hard drive?

Accepted Answer

Sorry for the delayed answer.  I had to do some testing at work and at home.  A 2Tb works fine on the Orico HDD docking station with Windows 7 at work on a DELL T5600 workstation using eithe USB3 or USB2.  I cannot get Windows 8.1 to recognize the Orico on my home desktop using either USB3 or USB2.  My home rig is a brand spankin' new Cyberpower PC H170 Extreme Gamer system (from newegg) with an MSI H81M-E33 motherboard.  I have read on the web about incompatibility of the ORICO with certain USB controllers.  The MSI must have one of these USB controllers.  Luckily I have 2 other USB3/2 HDD docking stations that I will try with my Cyberpower PC rig.  Hope that helps.
Mark E

Question 8

Does it have a compatibility issue in regards to the capacity of the hard drive connected? If yes, what is the max size of HDD I can connect using this device?

Accepted Answer

It's been awhile, but I recall connecting both a 2 Tb and a 3 Tb HDD to this unit when pushing back-up data files into a new build work station that had a 4 Tb HDD.  When doing large amounts of data like I did, make sure you use the USB3 connection on the PC.

Question 9

I have the previous model (USB 3.0 connection only).  Does it work with a powered USB 3.0 hub?  Mine seems to drop the connection unless it connected directly to a USB 3.0 port.

Thank you.
David

Accepted Answer

Well, unfortunately I still don't have 3.0 hubs on any of my rigs, so this is not definitive, BUT, I know for a fact that when I am working a convention and try to run more than two USB 2.0 printers on a single hub, all of them will eventually lock up. Try running your drive on the hub alone of maybe with only one other device for a few days and see if the issue resolves. Sorry it's a suggestion rather than a definitive answer, but I hope you find it useful in narrowing the issue down.

Question 10

Is the dock bootable from the USB port? I owns one of these and tried booting and old vista drive on a laptop to the same laptop the drive came out of, which now has Windows 7 Ultimate on a SSD. I seem to be able to access the bootloader but it blue screen before getting to desktop. The old drive was 32 bit and the new is 64 in side the laptop. It should just reverse the c drive order and allow coping of files off the old drive booting from it. But this does not work. I thought I read somewhere that could not boot from USB.

Accepted Answer

If your laptop can boot from a usb drive then it should work. Change the boot drive in the bios of the machine to point to the usb drive.

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