When it comes to repairing computers, there are times when I have to be able access Hard Disk Drives (HDD), Solid State Drives (SSD) or CD/DVD drives outside of a laptop or desktop case. That is when I need to use a drive adapter or docking station. So here are some of my favorite drive adapters and docking stations.
Having a power supply or motherboard fail can be a real pain in the butt. Not only can you not get your computer to start up, but you cannot even get to any of your documents or settings. That is when having a second computer and a drive adapter or docking station comes in really handy.
Using a drive adapter or docking station can convert a HDD or SSD drive to a USB device. And if you use a drive adapter, you can actually connect a CD/DVD drive to a ultra-thin laptop and use it a record or playback CD's or DVD's.
Now I have several different drive adapters and docking stations that I use for different uses. The majority of them are USB 3.0 but I do have a couple that are USB 2.0.
The easiest one to use is a drive adapter that attaches directly to the back of the device. This is the type I use to connect a CD/DVD drive to ultra-thin laptops that do not have CD/DVD drive. I also use it with desktop computers with CD/DVD drives that do not work.
Photo of a single drive adapter
Now the majority of drive adapters and docking station can only work with Serial ATA (SATA) drives. The one pictured above not only works with SATA drives, but also with 2.5" or 3.5" Parallel ATA (PATA) for those 'old school' drives.
And the cool thing about this drive adapter is the power supply for it uses a standard Molex connector. You can use it to power up any older device that has a Molex connection.
Photo of a single drive docking station
The most common docking station is for a single SATA drive. The nice thing about docking stations is they have power buttons, so you do not have to disconnect the USB connection first before disconnecting the power supply.
Photo of a multiple drive docking station
You can also get docking stations that can hold more than one drive. These come in handy if you are cloning one drive to another. They can also be used to recreate failed RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) arrays.
The down side to docking stations is you can only connect 2.5" or 3.5" HDD's or SSD's to them. If you want to connect a CD/DVD drive, you will need to use a drive adapter.
Using either a drive adapter or docking station is just like using an external drive. Just attach it to a USB port and power it up. Most computers will automatically install a driver and assign it a drive letter. From there you are ready to go.