Increase Storage without Increasing your Budget with a Hard Drive Docking Station
Computers have become a cardinal factor in our daily lives, from work to entertainment, which has resulted in an increased demand for information storage. A hard drive and docking station are capable of satisfying this demand. Whether your work requires you to have large amounts of storage space, or you simply want to back up your home movies, eBay has hard drive docking stations which can save you and your budget.
What is the difference between a SATA, PATA, IDE, and EIDE hard drive docking stations?Hard drives come in different systems, which utilise different physical connections and ports to connect to your computer’s serial bus. PATA, IDE, and EIDE all use the same connection configurations, whereas SATA uses a completely different physical system. SATA hard drives have superseded IDE style connections since 2003, although an IDE hard drive remains usable with a supporting docking station. All docking stations specify whether they support SATA or IDE connections, and some may support both.
Can a hard drive docking station be used for smaller laptop hard drives?Yes. A hard drive docking station is capable of holding laptop hard drives; however, this requires a smaller 2.5 inch connection. Desktop hard drives utilise a 3.5 inch connection and the hard drive docking station shall specify whether the smaller laptop connection is available. Some docking stations have multiple connections which account for both larger desktop hard drives and smaller laptop hard drives; however, this shall depend on the individual docking station. It is recommended that you check the specifications of a hard drive docking station to ensure that it is suitable for your intended use.
What advantages does a hard drive docking station offer over an external hard drive?A hard drive docking station offers an economical and convenient alternative over their external hard drive counterparts. A hard drive docking station also offers the following additional benefits:- Hard drives from your previous computers can still be used. This allows you to run your older operating systems externally on your new computer, or simply keep a backup of your files without needing to transfer them over to another hard drive.
- Docking stations ordinarily use standard USB ports to connect to the computer. Some hard drive docking stations contain multiple bays, which allow you to connect multiple hard drives to a single USB port.
- If another computer won’t boot due to an operating system error, a docking station allows you to retain access to your files.