Photographers needing to archive large numbers of images have taken to plugging in bare Hard Drives, cataloging the contents, and then storing them in a cupboard or off-site.
Hard drives are said to be more reliable and cheaper than CD/DVDs.
But its been a precarious activity, with the need to create your own bespoke set of data and power leads in order to temporarily connect the drives.
Now Thermaltake have created a set of special BlacX docks to easily achieve just this.
They accept 2.5 and 3.5 SATA drives up to 1tb and can be bought on Amazon USA for around $35 – $45.
link: Thermaltake
link: Blacx on Amazon
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This model and the newer “Pro” version (USB2, eSATA plus 2x USB2 hub and SD/MMC/MS cardreader) are available in the UK, branded Sharkoon.
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=23152
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=24900
I’ve been using the Pro version for about a month and it works well and is quick on both USB and eSATA. One caveat, the USB hub and card reader only work with the dock powered on (tried on 3 PCs).