Windows 7 Screenshot

I kicked this off under VirtualBox – 985MB base memory (I don’t know why, but VirtualBox wouldn’t let me allocate anymore), 32MB video memory and a 20GB virtual drive.

The installation is simple and relatively quick. A good start. The virtual drive, which I’ve set to expand as required, is 5GB in size, so I’m assuming that’s about the base installation size.

Now, I don’t have Vista but I have seen it and had a brief play. Windows 7 is similar in looks but even with the above virtual hardware it wasn’t too slow. I like the new way of applications in the taskbar appearing as icons – they blend in completely with the quick start tray icons and, indeed, when you launch one, the background behind the icons changes to show it’s in use rather than simply a shortcut. This reminds a lot of the Apple’s OSX.

Anyhoo, it took me a while to get a working network connection (found the Intel Pro/1000 MT Desktop option worked. And then I only got that and sound after installing the Guest Additions (explore the disk and make sure you run the appropriate .exe in Vista compatibility mode).

It’s nice – I can’t really get a proper idea without running it natively and with a decent hardware setup, but I’m impressed with what they’ve come up with in such a relatively short space of time.

My only downer so far is the system tray – or rather the lack of options with it. They’ve introduced new “all in one” system tray options that report issues, etc (this time reminding me of Linux) – however when diagnosing my network issues I was looking for the normal network icons and matching options. Once the network was working all of this disappeared and I was left with… nothing. I’m guessing I have to go into the control panel to then change any options, but I’m just used to havign a nice clickable icon (I bet you can turn this back on with the options, though). I don’t know, my issue is hard to explain, but I was missing some of the more technical options to hand. However, I’m sure all of this makes the OS a lot easier for non-IT minded people.

I’ll keep it installed, have a play occasionally and report back what I find out. All I have to do now is register it… if only the Microsoft site would return long enough to let me do that.

Today was the today my broadband was changed from the excellent, but expensive, Zen to the incredibly cheap O2.

And so far, it’s worked like a dream.

As I mentioned previously, they supply their own router but I intended to use my own. As soon as I was swapped over (and they emailed and texted me to make sure I knew!) I rang them up – on a freephone number – for technical support. They couldn’t have been more helpful (you’d think they’d be less impressed with the fact that I was only ringing them because I was using my own router rather than the ones they went to great expense to send me!).

For the record, for a Netgear DG834G, here are the changes…

Basic Settings

Does Your Internet Connection Require A Login? No
Account Name: (leave blank)
Domain Name: (leave blank)
Internet IP Address: Get Dynamically From ISP
Domain Name Server (DNS) Address: Get Automatically From ISP
NAT (Network Address Translation): Enable
Router MAC Address: Use Default Address

ADSL Settings

Multiplexing Method: LLC-BASED
VPI: 0
VCI: 101
DSL Mode: Auto (Multi-mode)

In preparation I’ve been running some timing tests using a combination of 8 different online speed test sites (Broadbandmax, ZDNet, InternetFrog, thinkbroadband, Alkin, Kbps and Zen). I picked these as they all appeared to be using different timing methods (many sites use the same code so will product similar, if not identical, results).

Whilst at Zen my average download speed was 1982Kbps and upload was 374Kbps. The lowest speed was around 4:20pm a few days ago (when you’d expect it be quite busy) which averaged a download of 1517Kbps.

At the same time today (4:20pm) I tested my new O2 broadband. This averaged at 3386Kbps download and 929Kbps upload – that’s an impressive 70% quicker download and 148% faster upload, the latter of which is fabulous. However, as I’m sure we’re all well aware, the first 10 days (is it 10?) is when the line gets tested and stabilised, so all this may change. Naturally, I’ll let you know how it goes.

This is a review of the Dual Drive SATA Docking Station available from Storage Depot. I managed to get a review model for the Copy+ site, but it was my cohort, Stuart McConnachie, who did the review itself.

Check the end of the article for details on how to get 10% off of hard drive cradles, including this one.

Well I’ve been using it for all my day-to-day Copy+ operations as well as development and support activities for quite some weeks now, and can truly say it is a faultless piece of kit. Here’s what you get for your money.

Hard Drive Caddy

Obviously the box contains the docking station itself, which is a sleek black unit that won’t look out of place on your desktop. There are two power switches on the front of the unit for controlling the two drives, essential for this kind of setup as you don’t want to be hot plugging drives in and out of the cradle while they are still spinning! On the back of the unit are the input for power from the supplied power “brick”, a single USB B style socket and two ESATA ports clearly labelled – one for each drive dock. Also included in the box is a single standard USB A-B connector (a nice touch in the days where printer manufacturers seem to be omitting USB cables as if they were some kind of “optional” extra) and not one but two ESATA cables. Also Storage Depot included a UK mains cable to replace the US two-prong version that comes in the box as standard. So no excuse to go trying to plug it into your bathroom shaver socket as I saw one dumb user post to a forum recently

So, all in all the unit was very easy to set up and just plugging into my PC the Windows XP USB mass storage drivers automatically detected the new hardware and I was up and running in seconds. No tools required, just as the box packaging suggests. Then it’s just a case of plugging in a SATA drive – the unit takes both 3.5” desktop variants such as used in Sky+HD or the smaller 2.5” laptop drives without modification – and powering on with the appropriate power switch on the front. The drive then spins up and is recognised by Windows just like with any other USB cradle/caddy.

I started out by performing a disk-to-disk copy using both ports of the cradle, as this is the most likely potential use for this kit when upgrading a Sky+HD box from the OEM 300GB drive. As a source disk I used a 300GB Samsung drive that had been in use in my Sky+ box for quite some time and was about 80% full. As such the file system was relatively fragmented, and so a good representative test of the kind of source disk most people would be copying. As the destination drive I choose a 1TB Hitachi Deskstar drive – again not an uncommon choice for HD upgraders. Copy+ fired up and recognised both drives straight off, and it was a simple matter of selecting source and destination and clicking the Copy button.

The whole copy process took about 4 hours, which was a little longer than I was expecting. However this is probably down to both drives being on the same USB port and all the data for both reads and writes has to travel down the same 480Mb/s USB 2.0 link to the cradle. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a PC with ESATA ports, and so was unable to test this connection method – however I expect that would be significantly faster with a combined throughput of 3Gb/s. I hope to be able to test the device in this configuration at some point and report back.

Once the copy had finished I used the Windows task bar Remove Hardware icon to safely disconnect both drives. I was please to hear that at this point the caddy powered down both drives obviously parking the heads on each. This is something you don’t normally see with regular USB caddies – and so it’s a nice touch with this unit given its quick plug feature. The power light on the front remained eliminated however, and after powering off the drives I removed them from the cradle and returned the 1TB to the Sky box. I’m sure you could probably remove the drives without powering off, as they had already spun down – However it seems sensible to remove the power from the electronics first!

Both the caddy and Copy+ had performed flawlessly and all my recorded programs and series links were present on the Sky+ box – So I have absolutely no qualms in certifying this thoroughly excellent piece of kit as fully Copy+ compatible

As I mentioned earlier, I has also used the cradle for my day-to-day Copy+ support and development activities, so it’s had a very good workout in addition to drive copying duties. During this time I also noticed that the docking station will auto-power down drives to standby if they aren’t used for an extended period of time (e.g. 5 minutes or so). Again that’s a feature you don’t see on a large number of aftermarket enclosures. Given the open drive nature of this enclosure that’s a very useful feature that means the unit would be totally silent when not in use as well as environmentally friendly. So if you plan on using the cradle as an occasional desktop backup solution, I’d suggest it would be eminently suited to that job as well.

All in all the SI-7928SUSJ Dual SATA Docking Station a very well thought-out and specified piece of kit that I would have no hesitation in recommending to any Sky+HD upgrader – or indeed PC user who requires a hot plug SATA solution. I’ve certainly found it invaluable, as my work with Copy+ often requires swapping drives in and out of my various caddies – and this little unit has saved a lot of time and hassle. I just wish there was a similar unit of PATA drives!

Ok, so it’s good, yes? Well, first we must thank Storage Depot for providing the product Storage Depot are a small and friendly company, established in 2002, which specialises in digital storage.

They have kindly offered us a 10% discount on all hard drive cradles – simply follow this link to those products which are included.

At “Checkout” you should find a button named “Show Discounts & Extras”. Press this and a box will appear allowing you to enter a discount code. Type in “copyplus” (without the quotes). It’s not case sensitive.

If you have any problems, or would be interested in discounts on other products from this site, then please let me know.