StarTech.com Portable SATA Duplicator & USB / eSATA Dock Review
by Ganesh T S on September 6, 2011 6:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Gadgets
Dock Mode
In the first dock mode test, we connected the 128 GB Kingston SSD to the 'Destination' port of the SATDUPUE. On the PC, we had the 120 GB OCZ Vertex SSD.
Docked SSD Transfer Rates (MBps)
| eSATA | USB | |
|---|---|---|
| Read from SATDUPUE to PC | 138.27 | 38.57 |
| Write from SATDUPUE to PC | 154.71 | 28.34 |
In the second dock mode test, we connected the Seagate Barracuda LP 2000 GB drive to the SATDUPUE and retained the OCZ SSD in the PC.
Docked HDD Transfer Rates (MBps)
| eSATA | USB | |
|---|---|---|
| Read from SATDUPUE to PC | 110.38 | 37.42 |
| Write from SATDUPUE to PC | 107.02 | 28.12 |
In eSATA mode with the hard disk attached, the unit consumed around 9.6W of power on an average. The power consumption is heavily dependent on the type of disk attached to the unit.
Duplicator Mode
In order to determine the characteristics in the duplicator mode, we tested the cloning of both SSDs and HDDs. The table below summarizes our observations:
SATDUPUE Duplicator Mode Characteristics
| Source | Destination | Time | Xfer Rate(MBps) | Av. Power(W) | Max. Temp. (C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 128 GB SSD | 2 TB HDD | 16m 45s | 127.36 | 9.8 | 49 |
| 120 GB SSD | 128 GB SSD | 10m 12s | 196.08 | 8.4 | 47 |
| 2 TB Samsung HDD | 2 TB Seagate HDD | 5h 17m 28s | 104.99 | 15.9 | 65 |
The temperature towards the end of the cloning process with a Ryobi non-contact infrared thermometer on the upper and lower sides of the SATDUPUE. The readings have an accuracy of +-5 C. The power consumption reported is the average power consumed over the course of the cloning, as measured using a Watts Up Pro power analyzer.
Though StarTech.com claims only 72 MBps transfer rate in clone mode, we found that SSDs could deliver much higher rates. Even hard disks were found to have better performance than claimed. However, waiting for more than 5 hours to get a 2 TB drive cloned does test one's patience. Support for 6 Gbps SATA ports in the JMB352U bridge could have helped here.
All in all, the SATDUPUE works better than it claims. It is available on StarTech.com for less than $80, but can be found for a much lower price point at various resellers like TigerDirect. We conclude the review with a list of the pros and cons of the SATDUPUE:
Pros:
- Cloning rates of more than 190 MBps (when suitable SSDs are used)
- Multipurpose gadget with both eSATA / USB dock as well as clone mode
- JBOD configuration for attached drives over USB 2.0
- Easily portable form factor
Cons:
- Product and power adapter cables appear very fragile. The user needs to be very careful when dealing with multiple 3.5" HDDs and the SATA connectors on the SATDUPUE.
- Product gets quite hot to touch and needs proper heat dissipation when operating
- Comparable product from Bytecc (BT-340) seems to be much cheaper
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TrackSmart - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Neat product. There are a number of times that I could have used this when helping family members or friends transfer data to a new HDD or computer. Unfortunately, my experience with HDD enclosures from companies StarTech, Bytecc, etc has me wondering if it would turn into an $80 paperweight after using it a few times. Your comments about fragility certainly don't bode well either.Googer - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
That's goes along with my concern.This duplicator may be fast, but more importantly is it ACCURATE and dependable? Can it clone a whole TB drive with out errors or quitting?
GeorgeH - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I use devices similar to this and they're definitely nice to have, but on the whole I've found their reliability to be pretty hit and miss. At this point my first instinct is to use a power brick->SATA power adapter and a SATA<-<eSATA cable, then try something like this through USB if that isn't feasible.From my perspective that's actually the weakest point of this gadget - I'd recommend getting a SATA power extension cable and a SATA<->eSATA cable as well. That way if the data part fails to work you can still use this device as a power supply and connect a drive directly to an eSATA port.
ckryan - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I was just cloning some SSDs now.I actually kinda wish I had this at the moment. Lately I've been using cloning as a primary backup method, and I could see this as being very useful to me... Not $80 useful, but more like $50 useful.
ganeshts - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
It is available on TigerDirect for the price you mention.The Bytecc model (not sure if it uses the same chip / has the same performance) is available in both Microelectronics and Frys for less than $40. (Also on some online websites)
Reikon - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Another poor article from Anandtech. Seems like they keep increasing. Don't be like poor quality sites where reviews are half quotes/info verbatim directly from the manufacturer with no added insight. And do we really need to a bulleted list of pros and cons? Seemed like the site was above doing stuff like that, not to mention all the info is basically right above it on the same page.Jedi2155 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
While the number of insights is limited (i.e. it performed better than advertised), it did provide some of the usual Anandtech qualities such as overview of system i/o of how the unit operates. This is in contrary to most poor reviews where the reviewer merely discuses usability and performance. I'd say its an "adequate" review while not up to Anand's usual in-depth article, it definitely does provide some useful details about a product that is usually reviewed by far poorer websites.FH123 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I must confess I haven't read this article, but I would agree there's no point in repeating features or other information you can get elsewhere. On the other hand I've had multiple AKASA external drive bays that plain didn't work, causing reproducible CRC errors reading known good Ghost images. This can be very insidious. A colleague of mine used his AKASA enclosure to play MP3s and, while he noticed dropouts in the music, never put that down to the enclosure. A different, Sharkoon, adapter of mine, while not introducing errors, hangs every so often, which is a big deal when you're imaging a disk for several hours. A lot of these products seem to be made with JMicron chipsets, the same company that produced the early SSD chipsets that would cause drives to freeze. Anand's investigations of such issues are some of the most valuable insights that I come here for.I also own a StarTech eSata dock that has a different issue altogether, a strong acrid smell from manufacturing that just won't go away. Wasn't planning on buying from them again until I get confirmation of neutral odor ;-).
ganeshts - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Reikon,Thanks for the feedback. In my opinion, the list of pros and cons make an ideal summary of the piece for people reading the review in a hurry.
This is a very basic gadget. Can you let me know what more insight can be provided into this basic bridge device? I am open to suggestions.
Reikon - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
I'm not saying there's more insight to provide on this gadget. I'm saying we don't need information/quotes directly from the manufacturer if there's nothing insightful you can say about it. It just looks like padding for the review -- a technique that lower quality sites like to use. I mean seriously, do I need to know it comes with the instruction manual? I mean sure, if it doesn't come with one and isn't intuitive, mention it. Otherwise, I don't think people care.As for your pro/con list, it seems to fall into the trap lots of sites make nowadays that cater to the tl;dr crowd. A summary paragraph is much more professional. Your list includes a lot of obvious things or things mention right above it anyway. For example, "Multipurpose gadget with both eSATA / USB dock as well as clone mode." That info is already in the product name! Most of the info is already in the tables above or doesn't really need to be stated. You can just write a short summary paragraph about its strengths and weaknesses instead of padding out a list.