StarTech.com 5.25-Inch Bay Mounted 2.5-Inch and 3.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Docking Station SATADOCK525 (Black)

by StarTech

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 2.1 x 9.3 inches ; 8.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0024CV3SU
• Item model number: SATADOCK525
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2004

Product Description

This SATA hard drive dock/docking station can be mounted internally in a 5.25in computer drive bay, to provide simple access to 2.5in or 3.5in SATA hard drives. Featuring a convenient trayless design, the internal hard drive dock doesn't require that hard drives be mounted in an enclosure, saving time and hassle. Once the docking station is connected to the host computer, it's as simple as inserting the desired SATA hard drive into the slot(s) as needed for full access to the hard drive(s) as though installed conventionally within the computer case. The HDD dock accommodates both 2.5in and 3.5in SATA hard drives and can support one of each at the same time. Plus, when the 3.5in slot is not in use, two 2.5in drives can be inserted simultaneously. The 5.25in bay-mounted SATA Hard Drive Dock features front panel power control, allowing you to power the drives on/off as needed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Star Tech Satadock525 works for me, May 17, 2011

By 

Serious-g - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StarTech.com 5.25-Inch Bay Mounted 2.5-Inch and 3.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Docking Station SATADOCK525 (Black) (Personal Computers)

I was skeptical about this due to several negative reviews, but had positive experience with a Star Tech Starview KVM switch so gave it a try. I encountered no problems installing or using the Satadock525 due to the unit itself. It fit perfectly into the 5-1/4 in. drive bay. The opening in the Satadock525 helps line up the SATA hard drive with the SATA data/power connector but clipless SATA connectors (you couldn't use a clip in a device like this because the connector is internal) never seem all that secure to me and the horizontal insertion eliminates even the weight of the hard drive as a factor to keep the connection secure. I have inserted a hard drive several times in the week I have had the Satadock525 without any problems but time will tell how long the connector continues to provide good contact. At present, it's a very convenient way to install hard drives temporarily in my computer without having to open the case and data transfer rates are much faster than with the USB 2.0 connection devices I have used previously.

Sometimes I will read a bad review of a product and realize that the problem the user encountered has nothing to do with the product. Here are a couple of tips I can offer less experienced users of this product. Before ordering this device make sure your motherboard supports SATA connections. Also, you need to match the SATA revision of the hard drive and the motherboard. When I first tried to use a hard drive in the Satadock525 my computer locked up (all the CPU cycles were being used). When I rebooted I received an error message about the BIOS not being installed. After a little research I found that I was trying to use a SATA II drive with a motherboard that supports only SATA I devices. I needed to use a jumper to lock the drive speed to SATA I to make it work. Another problem I have is not being able to boot my computer if the drive in the Satadock525 is not bootable but is powered on too early in the boot sequence. That's because my boot "disk" is a RAID array but my computer's BIOS will only boot from the RAID array if no other disk is present. Neither of these problems has anything to do with the Satadock.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, April 27, 2011

By 

CB20 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StarTech.com 5.25-Inch Bay Mounted 2.5-Inch and 3.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Docking Station SATADOCK525 (Black) (Personal Computers)

I am very pleased with this product, it fits into the 5.25 in bay. It came with everything required to connect it to my computer - 2 SATA cables, 2 SATA power adapters and screws. The drive has 2 seperate bays, 1 for 2.5" drives and the second is for 3.5" drives, but you can put in a second 2.5" drive into the 3.5" bay.