Review: Thermaltake BlacX Duet eSATA Dual Hard Drive Docking Station

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Review: Thermaltake BlacX Duet eSATA Dual Hard Drive Docking Station

By Oneslowz28 at 2010-02-02 09:53

By Charles Gantt ( oneslowz28 )

A hard drive docking station is an invaluable tool for anyone with a few extra internal SATA hard drives laying around. It makes transferring data on those loose drive a lot easier than opening up your case and installing the extra drives. Today we will take a look at Thermaltake's BlacX Duet dual HDD docking station... more.

I will be the first to admit that I dislike clutter on my desktop. By dislike I mean hate! I try to keep my desktop clear other than the monitor and stray pen and my iPod, but being a professional photographer who does a lot of file backups onto external HDD drives its tough to keep it clean as I would like. Recently I had the idea to just begin backing up data onto normal internal hard drives. This idea came after seeing a $120 price tag on a new 500gb external drive. Internal drives can be had for less than half that price and many can be stored neatly in a single box that would make for quick removal in the event of an emergency such as a house fire or earthquake.

We reviewed one of Thermaltake's BlacX models last year and it got a great score from Datech. After reading his review again I decided to ask Thermaltake to send us one of their BlacX duet models. I chose the Duet because it was eSATA compatible and had the capability of holding 2tb at one time (2x 1Tb). A little over a week later there was a small package sitting on my door step. I brought it inside and began snapping photos for you guys.

The BlacX Duet comes in a small black box decorated with photos of the docking station and information on the Duet.

Like all Thermaltake products the BlacX Duet is protected from shipping damage by some form fitted foam.

With the foam removed and the docking station out of the box we finally get a good look at the BlacX Duet. For those of you like me who dislike a cluttered desktop the Duet has a footprint of about 5"x5" and its only 2.75" tall.

A shot of the back. Here you can see the IO ports.

The BlacX Duet has both eSATA and USB support and is powered by a normal wall wart.

Looking at the top we can see the SATA power and data connectors. The BlacX Duet can transfer data to and from both 3.5" and 2.5" hard drives.

The Duet comes with everything you need to plug it in and get started transferring files.

It will work with 1 or 2 drives at a time. Note that to use 2 drives with the eSATA interface your host computer must have port multiplying on the eSATA port in order to recognize 2 hard drives at once. This only applies if you plan on using the eSATA function. If you are using USB then nothing has to be done.

The BlacX Duet fits 2 500GB drives with plenty of room to spare.

Features

Read and write 2 hard drives simultaneously
Supports all 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard drives up to 2TB
Hot-Swap capability for rapid multi HDD access and exchange
Supports eSATA transfer speeds up to 3.0 Gbps
Supports USB 2.0 transfer speeds up to 480 Mbps
Windows 2000- Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit and Mac OS compatible
Rapid data access and exchange using a single eSATA or USB cable connection
8r-Over docking station design maximizes heat dissipation
RoHS Compliant
SSG (Solid State Grip) technology: Anti-Slippery Grasp Base

Specifications

Model #: St0014U
HDD Interface: Two 2.5" / 3.5" SATA I/II
Host Interface: SATA to eSATA / USB 2.0
SATA Transfer Rate: up to 3.0 Gbps (max)
USB 2.0 Transfer Rate: up to 480 Mbps (max)
SATA Compatibility: SATA I & II
HDD Compatibility: All 2.5" & 3.5" SATA
OS Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7. 32bit and 64 Bit. Mac 10 and later.
Material: ABS Plastic
Power: DC 12v / 3A
Dimensions: 140mm(W) x 120.82mm(D) x 69.4mm (H) / 5.51"(W) x 4.76"(D) x 2.75" (H)

Testing

I tested the Thermaltake BlacX Duet using hard drive tach. The resulting graphs are below. eSATA is the clear winner here with an average read speed of 75.5MB/sec on the short (8MB zones) test and just a slightly higher speed of 75.7MB/sec on the long (32MB Zones) test. This makes the USB test look painful with average read speeds of 25.7MB/sec and 25.8MB/sec on the short and long test. As for burst speed the eSATA port once again reigned king with 232.7MB/sec on the long test.

eSATA short test (8MB zones)

eSATA long test (32MB zones)

USB short test (8MB zones)

USB long test (8MB zones)

Conclusion

I would recommend the Thermaltake BlacX Duet to anyone looking for a dual HDD dock that is both USB and eSATA compatible. I feel that this docking station would be the perfect addition to any IT professionals desk or workbench and makes the perfect addition to any consumer who is wishing to do data backup to a normal SATA internal HDD. The build quality is second to none and even though it is made out of black ABS plastic it does not have that cheap plastic feel to it. So give the Thermaltake BlacX Duet a look if you are considering purchasing a desktop HDD docking station.

You can purchase the Thermaltake BlacX Duet from Newegg.com or Amazon.com for around $45.

This product was provided by its manufacturer free of charge for purpose of review.

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