Using a drive adapter or docking station to access a drive

When it comes to repairing computers, there are times when I have to be able to 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 dock stations.

Having a power supply or motherboard fail can be a real pain in the butt. You cannot get your computer to start up, but you cannot even access your documents or settings. That is when having a second computer and a drive adapter or docking station comes in handy.

Using a drive adapter or docking station can convert an HDD or SSD drive to a USB device. You can also use a drive adapter to access M.2 drives through a PCIe expansion slot. And if you use a drive adapter, you can connect a CD/DVD drive to an ultra-thin laptop and use it to record or playback CDs or DVDs.

Now I have several different drive adapters and docking stations that I use for different uses. Most of them are USB 3.0, but I do have a few that are USB 2.0. And one is a PCIe expansion card.

The easiest one to use is a drive adapter that attaches directly to the back of the device. This type is what I use to connect a CD/DVD drive to ultra-thin laptops that do not have a 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, most drive adapters and docking stations will work with Serial ATA (SATA) drives. The one pictured above works with SATA drives and 2.5" or 3.5" Parallel ATA (PATA) for those 'old school' drives. And there are ones that work with M.2 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 beautiful thing about docking stations is they have power buttons, so you do not have to disconnect the USB connection 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 downside to docking stations is you can only connect 2.5" or 3.5" HDDs or SSDs to them. If you want to attach a CD/DVD drive, you will need to use a drive adapter.

Photo of an M.2 SSD PCIe adapter

With an M2 SSD PCIe adapter, you do have to turn off your computer to install it, but you get great transfer rates.

Using either a drive adapter or docking station is like using an external drive. Just attach it to a USB port or install it inside your computer, and power it up. Most computers will automatically install a driver and assign it a drive letter. From there, you are ready to go.