14 DAY TRIAL // HighPoint is doing something similar on the USB 3.0 docking market to what all those companies on the Wi-Fi router industry have been up to: making products that transmit data over twice the normal number of bands.
And since the normal number of bands, so to speak, is one, that means that HighPoint has launched a dual-band USB 3.0 docking station.
Said product is called RocketStor 5422 and relies on two 5 Gbps bays, plus UAS support, where UAS stands for USB Attached SCSI.
Any off-the-shelf SATA disk can be plugged in, from the weakest HDD to the largest-capacity models, even 4 TB.
Likewise, solid-state drives are supported. Indeed, the compact and rugged form factor may even suit them better than platter spinners.
For that matter, the small size and shape make the RocketStor 5422 a good option for owners of laptops or Apple Macbooks. The catch is that two USB 3.0 ports are needed for the transfer performance to be fully utilized.
Sure, current-generation drives normally use SATA III, which reached 6 Gbps, but the 5 Gbps of USB 3.0 sure come close to that mark. It's almost like having two extra storage drives inside the notebook or desktop.
For those unfamiliar with UAS, it maximized bandwidth utilization via the SCSI command set. The alternative, BOT (Bulk Only Transport), needs tasks to be completed one after another, which is slower.
Thus, UAS USB 3.0 connections work faster and use less of the CPU than BOT. Both the PC and the drives run more smoothly because of that.
Both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch HDDs/SSDs are compatible with HighPoint's RocketStor 5422 UAS dual-band USB 3.0 dock. Plug & Play support is included.
Sales should already be underway, for the price of $99.00. That's around €73.99, according to exchange rates, but EU tags, if selling there, will probably be closer to €99.00.