When Other World Computing sent me the Voyager Q Hard Drive Dock, I had (and still do) some reservations about the safety of a having an internal hard drive running in such an open environment. The dock poses as a desktop solution to hot-pluggable, external storage at internal storage prices. We’ll be looking at its performance across the wide array of interfaces it offers, and its functionality as a whole.

Packaging / In the Box

The product came in a cardboard box that was barely big enough to house it and its cables. I like this trend: the products are easy to get to, and the use of cardboard is more ecologically friendly than a plastic clamshell. Minimizing the use of packaging is always a plus in my book. The dock ships with eSATA, IEEE1394-400, IEE1394-800, and USB 2.0 cables. The amount of connectivity available to the dock is impressive.

Operation and Use

A spring-loaded door on the dock reveals SATA power and data connections, and your choice of internal hard drive slides into place with minimal effort. The dock is compatible with 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives, and the door has a notch for the smaller format. My test drive was a Seagate 80gb, 7200rpm drive that was slightly shallower than the full breadth of the dock’s door. Because of this, the drive had some wiggle-room in the dock, which made me nervous. My chair struck the desk at one point and I noticed the drive wobble in its mount. The door is spring-loaded such that it presses against the drive, but I found it was not strong enough to prevent movement.

The plethora of available connections is a solid bonus to this enclosure, as is the ability to hot-swap drives. No power is used from the host computer, as the drive has a DC adapter (included). After inserting the drive and connecting the dock to the host computer, a single power button remains. An LED indicates power and activity.

Testing

I used MacBench Pro to categorize the data accession rates of the dock using its different interfaces. I did not have the facilities to test eSATA performance, however.

Conclusions

I found the drive to be attractive, functional, and a solid performer. The amount of connectivity available on this model is wonderful, as is the ability to hot-swap drives. The price is a little on the high side, but I’m used to decidedly cheaper enclosures. I would recommend the dock to anyone who needs a hot-swap solution sitting on his or her desk, and who has drives that fit well.

Pros

+ Design
+ Ease-of-use
+ Performance

Cons

- Price
- Some drives can be a loose fit