Why Use a Plugable Docking Station?
Backing up your video files is a best practice implemented by professionals across the production industry as a standard. When you transfer your video files from the computer to your hard drive the speed at which this happens depends on your connection. USB 2.0 or SuperSpeed UBS 3.0 would be the slower speed against FireWire 800 and Apple’s Thunderbolt would be the fastest clocking in a 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and 20 times faster than USB 2.0 according to Apple. That is just bananas..
When you’re editing from the hardrive, this connection speed really makes a difference. When you’re simply backing files up to share or archive, going with a slower transfer speed will serve to save you some extra cash. Since we have more than one editing station and two editors sharing files, we began to use Plugable docks with bare SATA drives
Quick Specs
Plugable USB 3.0/2.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station (LucidPort chipset)
You forgot to mention esata
These docks are handy for laptop users when you want multiple hard drives!
Handy guideline to setting up multiple hard drives:
CLICK HERE
I think it goes .. thunderbolt > esata ~ USB3.0 > firewire 800
Most people will probably be fine with any of these though!
Ultimately it comes down to what ports/connections you actually have
Please take into account that the bulky external cases also serve to protect your harddrives against mechanical and electrical influences. So it would be a good idea to transport them nevertheless safe. Also note thet 3.5″ drives are much more sensitive to shocks also when not powered on compared tp 2.5″ drives. I just lost two 3.5″ drives (I did not let them drop) probably also due to excessive transport to work and back home (on my bike).
USB 3.0 is still a finicky mistress. I’ve had a notebook with USB 3.0 ports and Western Digital USB 3 hard drives for almost a year but only last week received the updates to my drivers to both which allow proper USB 3.0 speeds.
USB hard drives don’t operate anywhere near the theoretical maximum speed and are also limited by the transfer speed of the hard drive itself. Since updating my drives transfer about 3 times faster than before. Below the theoretical max but enough that I can use one as a working drive for my video editing work with the other for backups. Transferring 500GB of content might take a while but a few clips at a time doesn’t take an unreasonable amount of time.
Nice article on docking station. Been using this method of backup for a year or so. BYTECC makes little storage boxes for the drives once you fill em up which comes in handy too.
http://www.amazon.com/HARD-DRIVE-PROTECTION-BLUE-COLOR/dp/B0040REF5A/ref=sr_1_79?ie=UTF8&qid=1337963951&sr=8-79
No exactly cheap though. Frys also has them for a couple of bucks more.
-Glen
Hey Olivia,
Great article. However, I did have two questions. How many of the hard drives that you guys use for editing are Solid State Drives, if any? Also, have you guys experienced any drive failures due to your current method? Thanks. Keep up the great work.
-Vic
Hi Vic, I haven’t seen any drive failures yet. No SSDs either.
I bought these a few weeks back. I got the 3.5 and 2.5 version. They are abit pricey but they look professional and slick. I believe 4×2.5 fits in a 3.5 case.
WiebeTech
Others: HERE
Rack: HERE
I also use a docking solution but just be careful. The 3.5 I use get really hot if left to long. I put a diy 120mm computer fan next to it when I do edits with the drive.
Other solutions I use with my macpro: HERE
I have this thing! And I made a couple videos with it!
HERE & HERE
For us Mac users out there that don’t have USB 3.0 (but have Thunderbolt instead, which is waaaaay better than USB 3.0), there is now this adapter from Seagate:
Thunderbolt Adapter
It is designed for use with the Seagate GoFlex line, but it’s just a standard SATA connector, so you can connect any 2.5″ hard drive to it. Here’s a Macrumor post about that.
It’s not pretty, but it would serve the same purpose AND give you that Thunderbolt speed you’re looking for.
I looked into this! Have you used it?