Dual SATA Integrated Connection

[Asrial]

Not really coming up with an accurate sounding title for this.

Basically, I have two laptop SATA hard drives that I want to connect to integrated SATA controllers to facilitate disk cloning.

The options I'm coming up with are...

- Buy a computer [a laptop would be preferred for portability/access; maybe a slimline PC] that has the ability to have 2 HD's connected.

- Buy a motherboard and use it as a stripped down system for just this purpose.

What are some other options out there?

Hooking the hard drives up to an external adapter that then connects via USB is NOT an option.

 

[KompuKare]

Hooking the hard drives up to an external adapter that then connects via USB is NOT an option.

Well no but a laptop with a decently performing eSATA Expresscard is. Get one with two eSATA ports (in theory four would be possible with a 54mm wide Expresscard but I haven't seen them). Also, the bottleneck is the speed of 2.5" drives so even 3GBs SATA should be fine.

 

[AvidTech]

Dual Hard Drive external enclosure

Not really coming up with an accurate sounding title for this.

Basically, I have two laptop SATA hard drives that I want to connect to integrated SATA controllers to facilitate disk cloning.

The options I'm coming up with are...

- Buy a computer [a laptop would be preferred for portability/access; maybe a slimline PC] that has the ability to have 2 HD's connected.

- Buy a motherboard and use it as a stripped down system for just this purpose.

What are some other options out there?

Hooking the hard drives up to an external adapter that then connects via USB is NOT an option.

Not sure if this is what your looking for but it seems that it will work for cloning. It is made by Thermaltake. I have a single BlacX and so far so good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153112

This is an eSATA connection and a USB 2 connection. They also have a USB 3 version

 

[Larry Sabo]

Careful. I have that unit and it requires that your MB incorporates a SATA multiplier, which mine does not. Without the multiplier feature, only one SATA drive is detected if you plug in two at once. Two at once works fine via the USB 2.0 port, but that's much slower than eSATA.

 

[Asrial]

Well no [regarding USB] but a laptop with a decently performing eSATA Expresscard is.

The reason I commented on USB is because I have an adapter already.

Granted, it's not the best of the best, but it's reliable in the sense that I don't believe it's broken and it does what I need it to do.. usually.

When I'm dealing with defective hard drives, or long data transfers (IE: disk cloning), it acts up and I have a lot of difficulty. Thus, the desire for the reliability of a true SATA connection (and of course the speed of it).

How reliable is the ExpressCard?

Also, I use bootable CD based transfer programs.

Anyone have a good recommendation for Windows based? I need to be able to copy an entire partition and an entire disk.

 

[OldSchoolPC]

You could also try this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817821011&Tpk=cavalry dual hdd

 

[glricht]

Take a look at StarTech's UniDupDock.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...CODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE

It has an input side which supports IDE & Sata, 2.5" & 3/5" HDs; and an output side supporting the same. You can do stand-alone clones or attach the device via USB to your PC and access one or both of the HDs. (I've even used it to clone an IDE 2.5" to a SATA 3.5" in stand-alone mode.)

It's a little pricey, but is offset by not having to dedicate a PC)