Thermaltake BlacX 5G HDD Docking Station Review

Quick access to a SATA port is not something that something that everyone looks for, but there are a select number of those out there who do - for example people who maintain computer systems and need to remove the hard drive and plug it into another system for quick access. Naturally, opening up a case each time is not exactly the most practical option out there and as we've seen recently, there are 5.25" hot swap drive options out there that covers this base. There is another side to this situation however, and this comes to SFF systems and laptops, where installing a hot swap bay, lets face it isn't going to happen. What we need therefore is the ability to have a SATA dock that doesn't need to be internally mounted into a computer and is easy enough to connect up to the likes of a laptop. External SATA docks are not a new concept and there have been loads of variations on the market for a few years now, however until only recently the vast majority of these were solely USB2.0 based and with USB3.0 now becoming the standard, why should we have to substitute speed for practicality? This is where the BlacX 5G comes in. Built solely out of plastic, the BlacX 5G supports both 2.5" and 3.5" drives with a transfer rate of upto 5Gbps. The unit is fully backwards compatible with USB2.0 and 1.1 and works with both Windows and Mac OSX. On paper this dock has got a lot going for it, but the best way to find out is to get tucked in by having a closer look followed by those all important benchmark results. Packaged in an all black box, Thermaltake have highlighted the important and key areas around the box with a glossy finish to the print which sets it off from the background. On the back of the box we find the docks features in 12 languages instead of English. To one end of the box we find the features listed in English with a few detailed features highlighted below with the same gloss finish to the images as we found on the front of the box. Alongside the dock, we have an AC adaptor, USB3.0 cable, warranty card in yellow and a quick start guide in a number of languages. Also in the box we find two silicon jackets that cover either a 2.5" or 3.5" when installed in the dock to keep it protected from knocks. Looking more at the enclosure, we can see that this is a no thrills affair and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The dock has a particular function to do and it's not going to beat about the bush at doing it. The main portion of the body is made out of plastic with a brushed metal finish to the top. Focussing on the business side of the dock, the obvious part is where hard drives dock in. The cover above the SATA connections covers all but where a 2.5" drives slides through and folds down automatically when a 3.5" drive is inserted. To the right of the dust cover is a quick release button, which when pressed, pushes the installed drive up and off of the SATA connections. To the front of the drive there is a power button and to the right the SuperSpeed branding which lights up with disk activity. On the back of dock we find the DC jack and USB3.0 data connections. Turning the dock over, reveals no hidden surprises, but what we do find is a sticker that shows the docks specifications, including its weight, interface and drive compatibility. Test system: Gigabyte Z77-UD5H Intel Core i5 3750k Kingston HyperX 2133MHz 16GB Gigabyte GTX 580 SOC Antec Kuhler 620 Antec Hich Current Pro 1200W Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3 x AOC E2795VH We would like to thank AOC, Gigabyte, Antec and Kingston for supplying us with our test system components. Many different software applications are also used to gain the broadest spectrum of results, which allows for the fairest testing possible. Software used: AIDA 64 Extreme Edition AIDA64 Extreme Edition is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. AIDA64 Extreme Edition provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives. AIDA64 is compatible with all current 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Benching our Seagate Barracuda drive on its own gives us a baseline performance that we will use to compare linear (sequential) read speeds. With the speed of USB3.0, our Barracuda hard drive performed just as well as it did when connected directly to the test system via a pure SATA connection topping out at around 200MB/s Products like the HDD dock that we've looked at here don't normally have a lot to shout and rave about, but it's always good to see how they do fair up in respect to the other offerings available. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't look at them as [like all things] some are going to be better than others and the BlacX 5G is one example that does exactly as it says on the tin. Whilst the design doesn't hold any thrills, it is simple and to the point and that's what I like about it. The nice touch with the inclusion of the two silicon jackets makes for easier removal of drives after use when they may be a little more on the toasty side, whilst at the same time, protecting them from light knocks when docked. The main area that we have to look at is how the dock performs. Like we would expect, there is going to be a slight amount of loss in performance, but to aid against this, the BlacX 5G comes with full USB3.0 functionality and with performance levels being virtually the same, we can safely say that the dock does not impede the drives performance at all. I will point out though, that whilst this is the case for mechanical drives, don't expect this to be the case with all SSDs and some of the higher performing drives will suffer some speed loss when docked in here. Hitting the shelves at a mere £22, the value is all part of a cracking deal and as I've said, for something that does exactly as it says on the tin, it's surely worth a bang for buck award.