Interesting storage if you can use Thunderbolt 3

See https://petapixel.com …tb-ssd-and-tons-of-ports/

"promises to turn any Mac or PC into a powerhouse workstation"...

? That's jargon. Sounds like a replacement for my external hard drive.

Archibald wrote in post #19354254
"promises to turn any Mac or PC into a powerhouse workstation"...

? That's jargon. Sounds like a replacement for my external hard drive.

Jargon? Maybe, but what do you have that can match the described capability:

“The Sabrent Docking Station comes in four capacities of 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, and a whopping 16TB of NVMe SSD storage that are capable of delivering out up to 1.5GB/sec (1500MB/sec) through multiple connection options. It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports with up to 40Gbps of bandwidth, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and one USB 3.2 Type-C port which both are capable of up to 10Gbps. It also has a USB 3.0 Type-A port that’s good for up to 5Gbps.”

Granted, they use the word “capable” so a user may not be able to support the specs, but the hardware may certainly be of interest to some.

Probably a pretty good solution but pricey

John from PA wrote in post #19354315
Jargon? Maybe, but what do you have that can match the described capability:

“The Sabrent Docking Station comes in four capacities of 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, and a whopping 16TB of NVMe SSD storage that are capable of delivering out up to 1.5GB/sec (1500MB/sec) through multiple connection options. It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports with up to 40Gbps of bandwidth, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and one USB 3.2 Type-C port which both are capable of up to 10Gbps. It also has a USB 3.0 Type-A port that’s good for up to 5Gbps.”

Granted, they use the word “capable” so a user may not be able to support the specs, but the hardware may certainly be of interest to some.

OK, jargon wasn't the right word... but when I read pages like this, my questions are 1) what is it, and 2) would it be useful to me? And I have to dig through a lot of prose to get a provisional answer, which is it's a USB file storage device, and I don't think it has any advantages for me for now over a cheap hard drive.

I might be missing something, though - it's happened before - but it's lost on me for now.

It's a laptop docking station. I've been using docking stations for 30 years, since back when they called them port replicators. It's the best way to turn a laptop into a "powerhouse workstation."

This is a very nice docking station. It's got thunderbolt and usb 3.2 ports in A and C - all very modern. And it's got an internal NVMe port for an SSD drive - a novelty among docking stations. It looks like it costs around $300 plus the cost of the SSD. They should probably just sell it that way and let you install your own drive.

Still, even just the docking station part is pretty expensive compared to others without the NVMe port.

drsilver wrote in post #19354373
It's a laptop docking station. I've been using docking stations for 30 years, since back when they called them port replicators. It's the best way to turn a laptop into a "powerhouse workstation."

This is a very nice docking station. It's got thunderbolt and usb 3.2 ports in A and C - all very modern. And it's got an internal NVMe port for an SSD drive - a novelty among docking stations. It looks like it costs around $300 plus the cost of the SSD. They should probably just sell it that way and let you install your own drive.

Still, even just the docking station part is pretty expensive compared to others without the NVMe port.

Thanks for the clarification!

John from PA wrote in post #19354315
Jargon? Maybe, but what do you have that can match the described capability:

“The Sabrent Docking Station comes in four capacities of 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, and a whopping 16TB of NVMe SSD storage that are capable of delivering out up to 1.5GB/sec (1500MB/sec) through multiple connection options. It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports with up to 40Gbps of bandwidth, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and one USB 3.2 Type-C port which both are capable of up to 10Gbps. It also has a USB 3.0 Type-A port that’s good for up to 5Gbps.”

Granted, they use the word “capable” so a user may not be able to support the specs, but the hardware may certainly be of interest to some.

At almost $3,000 I would hope it would have a whopping 16TB of space. Because I pick up 2TB external SSDs when on sale (from what I've seen from drive reviews, USB 3.2 gen 2x2 are the fullest bandwidth....so not surprising my drives have that USB-C configuration) $3,000 for 16TB SSD seems pretty expensive. I don't know....given that today it's very easy to find a USB-C hub with many different ports that's just a few bucks, and then you can keep picking up external SSD drives, to me this seems pretty specialty.

davesrose wrote in post #19354503
At almost $3,000 I would hope it would have a whopping 16TB of space. Because I pick up 2TB external SSDs when on sale (from what I've seen from drive reviews, USB 3.2 gen 2x2 are the fullest bandwidth....so not surprising my drives have that USB-C configuration) $3,000 for 16TB SSD seems pretty expensive. I don't know....given that today it's very easy to find a USB-C hub with many different ports that's just a few bucks, and then you can keep picking up external SSD drives, to me this seems pretty specialty.

It should be noted that the 16TB docking station, and yes at just short of $3000, includes two 8TB SSD's. According to Sabrent, these are PCIe 3.0 based SSD's, so you won't be looking at blazing 7,000 MBps sequential reads and writes like the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs, but 8TB PCIe 3.0-based SSD's are running right around $1000 each. The entry-level 2TB is listed at $500, the 4TB at $650, 8TB at $1,300, and 16TB SKU comes with a staggering $2,900 price tag.

Hardly a bare bones device, but lacking the internal drives, is the Caldigit 18-port Thunderbolt 4 Dock for $350.

Obviously these are devices for people with serious needs!

I've bought my 2GBps 2TB external drives when they've been on sale for $300 (I see they are about that on Amazon now). A very capable 7 port USB hub runs for $45. I also bought a HDMI adapter that supports 8K HDR/lossless audio. So I'm already tied into dongle life. It seems you're mainly paying the extra price for the convenience or need to have everything on one USB port. I'm not sure if the AC power is just needed for providing up to 96 watts. That's adequate for many laptops, but not enough for some of the new workstation class ones (for example, my Dell runs 130 watts).