Can someone tell me in simple terms what is a 2 bay docking station, what it does, how to use it, with or without a host computer,with or without software, cloning process for 2 ide drives? Any and all info welcome. I am looking for a self contained alternative to cloning using my computer and todo back up. I am tired of opening the case to install the target drive. I have seen docking stations from $20 to $hundreads. Some are called docking stations, docking station/cloning, some called clone stations only. I am confused. Insights welcome. Recommendations welcome.
docking station or so called clone station as far as i've seen are one & the same,i have two powered single docking stations (powered = requires it's own power supply to work not a usb port for power) however i never use them for cloning or backup purposes (personal choice) instead i use an external housing either a blueendless (fan cooled) or blackcyclone (no fan) both can be stripped down & used as a test bench if required,both can take ide or sata i'm wondering why your cloning & not creating backup images instead,it's faster & uses far less space more importantly you get to keep many previous backups,however you will require more than 1 back up hdd whether cloning or not
In my case I use ancient desktops running xp and I find it convienent to clone my hdds in order to install them in a different desktop that I find, given to me, repair if I can. In this way the desktop now becomes a working unit which I can then give away to people who need them. My way of paying forward. I also do not need to bother with product keys and activation. I have multiple copies of the OEM OS CD for initial loading. I can then clone after that. I was looking for a standalone way to do this without the host desktop.
Can someone recommend a dock/clone station by make/model that can clone IDE to IDE with or without SATA, preferably without. Either usb powered or ac adapter powered. A simple 1 function simple design that equals the function of a desktop/app. Link, website.
won't be usb powered as need 12volt plus 5volt for desktop hard drive to work & usb ports only have 5volts.
The kit I am looking at includes all cables. PSU, 12+5 volts, plus adapters to hold an IDE drive to slide into the SATA bays, mating with the SATA connector. Neat trick. I currently use TODO BACK UP 6.5 selecting DISK CLONE as opposed to SECTOR CLONE. Does this mean that the 40gig source was cloned to the 200 gig leaving the UNALLOCATED space, 200 minus 40, available for downloads, apps, any data I wish to write to it? Does the docking/clone unit do the same thing WITHOUT the computer?
should be able to set the clone software to clone source partition to destination partition so that a 40gig partition will become a 200gig partition with no wasted drive space. a clone unit should have a controller in it so it is a standalone & not need a computer.
TODO does have a sector by sector choice although I did not select it. I simply used the screen that was displayed whether the target was a used hdd or a clean hdd. According to MY COMPUTER, C drive there is 170 gig free space out of 186 available(despite the 200gig label). Does this mean that I can write to the 170gig until it is full? Or should I re clone it using sector clone?
try both ways to see which is the correct way as i don't use that program as i use disc wizard by seagate for seagate drives or western digital edition of acronis for wd drives. both are free from wd & seagate.
