Inateck FD1006C USB 3.0 Lay-Flat Docking Station Review

Introduction

I’ve taken a look at many different drive docking solution lately and today it has become time to take a closer look at the Inateck FD1006C USB 3.0 Lay-Flat Docking Station. The FD1006C offers UASP support for maximum USB 3.0 transfers speeds as well as support for large capacity hard drives.

The FD1006C is designed to work with both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives and solid state drives to offer speeds close to the theoretically 5Gb/s that the USB 3 bus has to offer. The serial USB protocol allows for more commands to be issued at the same time, resulting in an overall improvement of up to 70% compared to non-UASP systems.

The FD1006C comes with a top cover to protect the drive from unnecessary dust and other dirt, a great addition that protects your drive better especially if it stays in the enclosure for longer periods of time.

Due to the Plug and Play nature of USB, the enclosure is widely compatible with everything from Windows 2000 over Linux to Mac OS 9.1 and above. It also supports hot-swapping of the drives

While solid state drives easily will get enough power directly from the USB 3.0 connection, mechanical hard drives require more power. Inateck included a power adapter to make sure that enough and stable power is provided to the plugged in drive.

The use of a full-sized USB 3.0 connector on the drive further aids in stability and security. This bigger connector is a lot easier to handle and plug-in as well as being more sturdy than a micro type connector – and there is enough room on the FD1006C to use the full-sized B-type connector.

The tool-free design allows you to both easy and quickly add, remove and replace drives in the enclosure without the need for any tools or mounting screws.

Two LEDS will show when the device is powered and when the docked drive is being accessed. An ASmedia ASM1153E USB to SATA bridge chip takes care of the internal transfers between the two connections.