Orico Transparent Dual-Bay Docking Station Review

Orico recently released a whole series of transparent devices and today it is time to take a look at another one of them: The dual-bay USB 3.0 docking station with the model number 6239U3. Orico Dual-Bay Docking Station The new transparent dual-bay docking station from Orico is available in two versions. That means that you'll also have to pay double attention to which model you're getting. There is the basic version which I'm testing today as well as one with built-in offline cloning function. Aside from the cloning function, the two are identical. Whether you want to connect the latest large capacity HDDs with 16TB capacity, speedy SSDs, or a combination of the two - that's up to you. The Orico docking stations will take them all and connect them to your system with 5Gbps USB 3.0 speeds. While 5Gbps isn't the latest of fastest USB speed, it should be plenty in most situations. It will take SSDs to bottleneck and the docking station is more likely to be used with HDDs. It also supports UASP which is important for proper throughput. Transparent and Open Design The transparent design is most likely what will attract customers to this device. At least if that's what you like. The transparent enclosure allows you to see all the internal parts which have a second effect. With nothing hidden, a company can't get away with utilising inferior parts as they could with everything hidden. Now, please don't get me wrong here. I don't mean to imply that Orico would do that if it wasn't visible. We can easily see that Orico used solid-capacitors everywhere. Generally speaking, everything is built well on the inside and well worth showing off. Quality components and proper soldering points should guarantee a long-lasting device. There is a second thing that sets this docking station apart from most other similar devices. There are no covers over the drive slots. While that does allow for more dust and dirt to enter the drive trays, it also allows the installed drives to breath better. That can be particularly important with mechanical HDDs which do run hot in such a non-cooled enclosure. Power Supply and Sleep Mode The docking station is also green. No, not in the colour sense, more in the environmental sense. After 10 minutes of inactivity, it will enter a sleep state for a greener operation and to increase the lifespan of the installed drives. If that doesn't suit you, you can download an official firmware to change the sleep timer or switch it completely off. Speaking of power, the included power supply delivers 12V and 3A which is plenty for the device and any installed drive; even during peak operations. Package and Accessories There's no doubt what you're getting here as the included dual-bay docking station is prominently pictured on the front of the package. There's also a description of the device along with its feature highlights. These include tool-free usage, USB speed, and UASP support. The rear of the box has more details on the specifications along with the company and support information. Inside the box is the docking station itself, naturally. There's also a power supply, a USB Type-B to Type-A cable and a couple of small notes. A Closer Look It is time for a closer look at some of the details of this docking station before we get to the actual testing and benchmarks. The bottom has the various hardware details printed on it such as the model number and power requirements. There are four rubber feet which are relatively large. They should catch any vibrations created by inserted mechanical drives. Turning the unit with the right side up and we get a good look into the drive bays. There are no top covers as we know them from other similar devices. While that does allow for more dust to enter the bays, it also offers better ventilation for the installed drives. Through the transparent enclosure, we get a good look at the JMicron JMS561U bridge controller. While this version of the docking station doesn't actually have the cloning feature, the controller does. Each of the two drive bays has its own two-colour LED. There's the blue colour for the connection and blue/red for activity. The power supply is a standard AC/DC adapter which can deliver 3A at 12V. That equals to 36 watts which should be plenty for 2 drives no matter the type as well as the little power the unit itself draws. The included USB cable is as default as it gets. A cable with Type-B and Type-A connectors and a length of 1 metre between the connectors. Test Methodology and Setup Testing a docking station is quite easy. I’ll run a series of basic benchmark applications tests to test the throughput performance. These will give you a comparison to a direct SATA connection. The actual performance naturally depends on the inserted drive’s capabilities. For the performance tests, I’ll be using my trusty Toshiba OCZ VX500 512GB drives. Hardware Supermicro C7Z270-PG Intel Core i7-7700KCrucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz (4x8GB)Toshiba OCZ VX500 512GB SSDbe quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 (1200W)Noctua NH-D15SCooler Master HAF XB EVO with Noctua NF-A14 FLX fans Software Anvil's Storage UtilitiesAS SSD BenchmarkATTO BenchmarkCrystalDiskMarkWindows 10 Anvil's Storage Benchmark Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a complete benchmark solution used to test any writeable storage drive. It also has a drive endurance test that consistently reads and writes data to the selected medium to deliver days, months, and potentially even years of use in a shorter period. AS SSD Storage Benchmark The AS SSD software determines the performance of Solid State Drives (SSD). The tool contains five synthetic and three practice tests. The synthetic tests determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD, and they aren’t using the operating system cache. The copy tests are cached and as such not viable results at this time. ATTO Disk Benchmark The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customise your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD and SSD benchmark utility that allows you to measure a drive’s sequential and random performance. Pricing Earlier in this review, I mentioned that there are two versions of this docking station, but there are actually three. Besides the two dual-bay versions, there's also a single bay model. The one I've tested today with 2 bays but without cloning function will set you back $39.99 while the one with cloning comes in at $49.99. The single-bay version will set you back $36.99. In the UK, I could only find the tested model at the time of this review which will set you back £34.93 as dual-bay and £18.99 at single-bay version. Whichever model you pick, they're all very competitively priced for what you get. Final Thoughts Orico is no new company, they've been around for a long time. As such, I'm very pleased that I get to test some of their latest products which include the dual-bay docking station from today's review. Now, the transparent part is a something you either like or you don't, so I'll not go too much into that as such. Taste is personal. However, it does work very well for the docking station. It allows you to see right through it and view all the internal parts. It also gives a great effect when the LEDs light up. A visual fest if you ask me. Performance-wise you get what is promised, a solid 5Gbps performance. While it's plenty of performance for two mechanical drives, it will naturally be a bottleneck for SSDs that have a 6Gbps performance on their own. The docking station offers UASP which does give the best possible performance via USB. Should I Purchase One? If you're looking for an easy-to-use docking station for 2 drives while being happy with 5Gbps throughput, then the Orico 6239U3 dual-bay docking station will be a good choice. It is well built and delivers what it promises. Pros Tool-free usageCompatible with 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives of all types and capacitiesOffline cloning (with the cloning version of the docking station)Read and write to 2 drives at oncePower saving mode available Cons No top-cover for dust protection "Orico's new transparent docking stations bring a naked flair to the hardware, allowing you to see right through them. A unique series of docking stations." Orico Transparent Dual-Bay Docking Station Review Thank you, Orico, for providing us with this sample.