Thermaltake Blacx Docking Station N0028USU

Written by Larry Fraser - Edited by Olin Coles

Sunday, 12 October 2008

Table of Contents: Page Index
Thermaltake Blacx Docking Station N0028USU
Detailed Features
Testing and Results
Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Page 4 of 4

BlacX Final Thoughts

As far as the results for my second testing method, I have been very impressed. The little black box has stood up to repeated use with ZERO problems. I have found that I can store some of my hard drives on the shelf that I used to keep in my server. This should increase the life of my hard drives, reduce the chance of data loss, and reduce my monthly power bill. With the cost of hard drives falling dramatically, picking up a few 250GB or even 500GB hard drives to store on the shelf for my backups or just to store files that I rarely need to access is a valid option now. With the shelf life of DVD an unknown factor, I would much rather rely on a hard drive sitting on the shelf holding my family pictures and home movies rather than a DVD that may last ten years or may last two.

N0028USU Conclusion

Presentation is very acceptable. The box is very informative and details pretty much every thing you need to know about the BlacX.

I was actually very pleased with the appearance of the BlacX. The little black box for the most part goes unnoticed on my desk which is fine by me.

Construction turned out to be a pretty big plus for the BlacX. Although it is made out of plastic, it feels very sold and has some weight to it. I never noticed a problem with it sliding around on my desk.

Overall, the BlacX turned out to be extremely functional for my uses. I have a number of bare hard drives and this little box allowed me to make full use of them. Speed was acceptable although it might be nice to have the option of eSATA.

Value is a very subjective thing. This little box does exactly what is says it will do. It does not feel cheap, gave zero problems, and is extremely simple to use. Is it worth twice the price of the bare USB to SATA cable converter? I think that depends on where you plan on using it. If this is going to only be used on a workbench, the cable converter probably will do you just fine, but if you want to use this on your desk as a removable media style storage option, you will love this little unit. At the time of this writing the N0028USU was available at NewEgg for $39.99, but we found it elsewhere for a few dollars less.

After spending some time with the Thermaltake BlacX, I'm a fan. With the cost of hard drives getting almost as cheap as DVD to store data on, why not use them as offline storage? They have a much longer shelf life, are much faster, and you read and write to them as much as you want to.