BlacX USB 2.0

[MilesAhead]

After a bit of use the only knock I have on this dock is that it should have vibration dampening material on the bottom of the base. I could feel the vibration from the drive spinning in the heels of my hands as my fingers rest on the keyboard. I sacrificed an old mouse pad to fix the problem, but still, all the external drives I've used have a rubberized base and give off no vibration on the same table at just about the same spot.

I sent a suggestion to the manufacturer. It would just save hunting around for and cutting foam rubber when the rubber lining or feet should already be on the base in the first place. Other than that, it seems to work as advertised.

[doctorhardware]

I am glad that I got the docking station that had the Esata interface and Usb. After doing some file transfers the Esata interface is faster. I opted for the Esata interface since the HP laptop has the Esata port also. I have not tried the 3.5 drive in the station yet, but I will when I have a need to, and will report back if I experience the vibrations that milesahead reported with his hard drive docking station.

[dr_ml422]

Does it at least have 4 rubber dots. 1 on each corner underneath? Mine has them. Ttytt, I don't even have mine on my desktop, or rather table. I rest it right on top of my new build's case. That way I can plug it into either one of my 3 pcs, as the usb cable is long enough to reach the other 2 cases on each side, and the power cable is also long enough to reach 1 of my power surge outlets. I don't hear or feel anything. Not even the drive. I'll only feel it if I grasp the base while it's on, or grab it right after I turned it off, as the spin of the drive would be dwindling down.

Can you post a link to the one you got Miles? I'd like to check it out. I think it's like mine.

I don't really think it was meant to be on top of 1's desk. That's why the long cables. If you prefer it on there that's a different case.

[MilesAhead]

The model I have is this one:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642

The "long cable" in the box was only 2' long. Fortunately I had a 6' of that type on hand. My PCs are under the table on the floor so I wouldn't want to put stuff on top of the case. I have a kvma switch, otherwise I wouldn't be able to use 2 PCs with this setup. A larger desk or workbench just isn't practical at this point.

[MilesAhead]

I am glad that I got the docking station that had the Esata interface and Usb. After doing some file transfers the Esata interface is faster. I opted for the Esata interface since the HP laptop has the Esata port also. I have not tried the 3.5 drive in the station yet, but I will when I have a need to, and will report back if I experience the vibrations that milesahead reported with his hard drive docking station.

Unfortunately I've purchased at least 4 HP desktops and not one has had ESata. Guess I must pick a price point a few hundred $$ too low for that to be included. The drive in the dock is comparable to my Seagate USB 2.0 externals. Only thing is, the Seagates have a rubberized base and give off no vibration on my desktop. Seems like something that would cost maybe a fraction of a cent per unit in manufacturing. I doubt I'm the only one to stick a bit of rubber under the dock. It's just a touch that should be there.

[dr_ml422]

Miles I hear you loud n clear. I have a large table I found brand new which I think I mentioned b4. Otn, try not to worry so much about the vibration. If we continue to look 4 anything out of sync w/anything we'll always find something.

Right now I'm trying not to make a big deal outta ff not connecting right away after I click the quick launch or shortcut immediately after I'm on. I'm connected directly so I don't know what the delay is connecting to the server. If I continue to make a issue i'll get to the point of wanting to wrap the gpu cable around the tower n throwing it out the window.

Btw Thermaltake is going crazy on their clearance page. Just ordered another docking station w/the e-sata port. I build now so I made sure my new animal came w/a esata port. I also got a cpu cooler 4 $9.99 brand new all copper base and way smaller than the giant Zalman I have in my 1st build.

Take a look just in case.> http://www.thermaltakestore.com/

I didn't pull the trigger on the Soprano case because supposedly I'm trying to make good on my commitment to pay off my cc. You know how it is though when it comes to computers. We have to get what we want and need regardless. Even if version 2.1 comes out 2x faster than version 1. Lol...

[MilesAhead]

It's fine now sitting on the section of mousepad. No big deal. In fact I'm trying to hustle up some free mousepads because they come in handy. When everyone had the ball mice they were given away all over. Now the only giveaways are marketing companies that want your info for junk mail. I'd rather spend $5 at Sears or someplace and get a mousepad. Still, you'd think places like Egg and other online stores would give 'em out with purchases. Oh well.

[dr_ml422]

egg is starting to slowly charge 4 shipping. so 4get about too many free anything from them soon here. Yes K-Mart and the other stores we frequent will have them. Their better also than the ones that come w/the oem's. I'm using optical mouse now, so only thing i need is a surface and not white. I found out b4 I found this new table that the optical mouse would not work on my ceramic white tiled table I also found b4 this one.

Maybe a post gonwk wrote about 2 yrs. ago is true. That a white colored burner can somehow affect the results or even alter the burning process a bit. Hmmm.

[doctorhardware]

It is hard to find the free mouse pads around me. It has been a long time since I have seen a free mouse pad.

[dr_ml422]

no free lunch. lol...

[MilesAhead]

Google only pops up a form where they want your street address, obviously for junk mail. Plus it's tough to tell from the picture. Guess brick and mortar store is the way to go unless you know for sure the brand is good. The ones I have I got in Sears about 16 years ago. Plain gray no emblem, nothing, but the tops must be polyester and nylon because they last forever... unless you cut them up that is.

[MilesAhead]

I got a free version of USB Safely Remove and I'm trying it out on BlacX without any luck. What do you guys do before you pull a drive? It seems like Windows doesn't want to let go. I notice System Volume Info Logging is holding onto it even though it's not enabled for Restore Point monitoring. Weird.

I mean I can prolly flush the disk with SysInternals sync.exe but seems like this Safely Remove doodad should do it. Anyone have any info on it?

[dr_ml422]

Miles what version of windows are you using? If it's XP and that annoying safely remove thingy is what you're talking about, what i did was remove my ide drivers. I have a Nvidia card and it gives you the options of what to remove in add/remove programs. You could get rid of that by either romoving the ide or raid drivers.

If it's Vista or 7 I never had a issue w/the docking station. Especially in 7 where they tightened up on the auto-play for usb drives.

I just pull it out by depressing the eject button whether it's on or off. It's hot swapable.

I f you're worrying about data being lost I wouldn't. That annoying icon is just that.
I don't see how it can lock your BlacX.

[MilesAhead]

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm using it with W7 32 bit build 7077 and the 3rd party USB Safely Remove program(got a freebie license.) It just strikes me weird that the Eject software doesn't do anything, but maybe it's only tested in XP.

I have sync.exe from SysInternals. I usually disconnect my network shares and make sure stuff has had time to sync to the drive. Then I hit the off button and pull the drive. I haven't had an issue but I was curious. On a Vista forum somebody said the monitoring isn't just Restore Point but the NTFS journaling. So that's ok with me.

[dr_ml422]

1 thing I never liked about M$ since I really became familiar w/them is their nonsensical gizmos whether for security or just plain their os. I had to google that same issue and not only ended up uninstalling the ide drivers from my gpu, but also disabling autoplay/autorun in the registry. It's a smart thing to do so as nothing will auto-start/play unless you're actually using a app. like ImgBurn for instance.

IE 8 also brought me all kinds of issues when I upgraded from IE 6 in XP home. My FF was virtually crippled to what we're all used to as far as start-up. I ended up doing a clean install of XP w/integrated drivers and sp3 using nlite. I chucked system restore during the process. I really have no use for, and if one is a experienced user like we are at this time, know very well if you're hit w/a virus, best thing to do is a clean install anyway.

On the other hand it's useful for your work as you're constantly working w/software.

I'm very curious and awaiting the Chrome os Google is working on and supposedly coming out with. It's going to be a portable os and free. Remember I asked that it would really be something if an app. online was created in that fashion? Well it's coming. I'm even trying my best to use as many portable apps. as i can to keep the registry clean and delay a clean install.

Otn, I strongly suggest a clean install be done about every 4 to 6 mos. depending how much one does. For me video work and music along w/being online adds up pretty quick, especially w/all the updates to browsers n apps. etc... Throw in M$'s new crap and push this suggestion up even more.