Question 1

Can you plug in two hard drives simultaneously into this unit?  I'd like to use it when repairing PCs to image data from one drive to another with Acronis or other imaging software.

Accepted Answer

NO, but I believe you can switch 2 Hard Drives and use an complete S/W disk-Image as the Go-Between depending on the Backup S/W. I do suspect that it might be possible to achieve the simultaneous interaction of 2 different SATA Docking Stations. Ask Rosewill. I would like to try it

Question 2

How long is the included USB 3.0 cable?  I want to get from the bottom of a tower case to the desk surface with a little slack.

Accepted Answer

3 feet 2 inches.  Mine easily reaches from the top third of my tower to the desk with a little slack.  My unit is not directly above my tower, though.  I don't believe the packaged cable will be long enough to do what you want with any slack.

Question 3

Does this unit need to be powered on if you only want to use the sd card reader or usb 3.0 ports?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it must be powered. Without power the computer doesn't even recognize the new USB device. I've looked inside, there are a few chips that need power to create the interface. If you just want the extra ports look for a simple USB powered device. If for SD interface search for usb to sd adapter. There are several Newegg 9SIA2JX0YW4141 is one. I don't recall seeing a USB powered device that does both. Hence the docking station solution.

Question 4

Could I connect this to a Smart TV and run videos from the hard drive?

Accepted Answer

so it connects be usb to the device you are connecting.   It will take any sata hard drive.  If your smart TV accepts USB, and what you need is the appropriate structure I don't see why this would not work.   For a disclaimer I have not done it myself but it should work fine just like a flash drive would work.

Question 5

Will this work for a SSD drive?

Accepted Answer

As long as it has a standard SATA interface yes, you may have to be bit careful with insertion as SSDs can be thinner than the usual laptop 2.5" drive.

Question 6

Will it clone a boot drive?

Accepted Answer

This item will not clone a drive by itself alone.  You can use an existing PC to copy drive contents from one to another.

Question 7

68 pin scsi?

Accepted Answer

The ports for the  hard drives are both SATA. As far as the memory reader I don't think so but it's curently being used by  a friend.

Question 8

Is there a similar device that also handles IDE drives?
Also, can I connect this device to my laptop and download data from the SATA drive directly to my laptop via USB 2.0? My laptop does not have USB 3.0. 
Thanks

Accepted Answer

I have not seen any devices that do IDE drives and I can only imagine the 40 tiny pins would be difficult to keep from getting bent. There are several IDE drive to USB adapters out there but for single drives.

This will connect to any USB port, the faster USB 3.0 devices will throttle back automatically to USB 20. speeds.

Question 9

Does card reader support UHS-I or UHS-II?

Accepted Answer

The user documentation I have does not indicate specific support for UHS-I or II.  Checking around via Google indicates that a SDHC UHS-I will work with an SDHC device at a slower transfer rate.  The Rosewill site indicates this station supports SDHC cards.  I have never used it for that purpose however, so I cannot confirm that it will work.

Questions & Answers