OWC Drive Dock
Other World Computing




OWC is a brand for amazing tech gadgets for laptops and desktops; OWC develops devices keeping Apple's MacBook in mind. The recently released OWC drive dock is an eye catcher with some serious specifications. OWC Drive Dock comes in two variants; with USB 3.1 interface and with Thunderbolt interface, the one we got here is with the USB 3.1 Gen Type-B port. This dock comes with two drive bays so you can access two drives at the same time. The design is appealing and let us see if the performance is appealing too.



Design and Build

The design of the OWC drive dock is silver, and the outer case is made of aluminium, the round edges design with silver paint blends in the elegance of MacBook's or other silver Ultrabook. The top is black and made of hard plastic, the buttons and status indicators are made of glossy plastic. The OWC branding is also printed white on the glossy plastic below the buttons and indicators. There are two drive slots with a two level plastic flap on both for the size of drives, flaps are spring loaded and come back to cover position once drives get ejected.

All the sides are empty except the back side with the important ports; one power port for power cable, a power button and USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. Below is some information about the drive dock and the rubber feet to keep the drive dock into place during operation. Overall the drive is rugged and lightweight but still maintain the drives inside the slots.

Specifications

• Compatibility: OS X 10.6 and Windows XP or later
• Separate on/off button for drive slots
• Drive Supported: 2.5" SATA and 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s, two slots for them
• Dimensions: 3.3 X 6.3 X 5.8 Inches
• Weight: 2.2 lb (1 Kilogramme approx.)
• In Box: OWC Drive Dock, USB 3.1 Gen 1 cable (Type A to B), Power cable and Quick installation guide.

Features

The design is the one feature of the OWC drive dock; it looks like the best companion for Apple MacBook and other slim laptops. And the second best feature is the USB 3.1 gen 1 interface which can give more than 400 MB/s read and write speed, the port on the back is Type-B and the conversion cable is included in the box.

The slots for the drives are covered with plastic flaps which fold in when inserting a drive, there is a separate small flap on the flap for smaller 2.5 inches drives, the slots gets covered while not is use. There are different click on/off buttons for each drive and two colour indicators to tell the drive status; you can turn on drive which you are using.

Performance

Drive dock is really easy and quick to set up; connect power cable to power, connect it to your laptop or PC using the USB cable (came included in the box), turn on the power button on drive dock and it's done. Now all is left to insert the drive into the slots properly, and it will star to show on your laptop. There is no utility or software provided from OWC to tweak any kind of settings of the drive dock, but they are not needed either.




We used 1 TB WD green drive in one slot and 4 TB WD Black in the second slot; we noticed that if you are using a drive which comes with more than two platters, then the dock vibrates and creates a humming noise. Otherwise, the dock operates quietly, and no humming sound experienced. One more issue which we experienced while using the drive dock is that the 4 TB black drive reconnects once in a while when reading or writing the data from it. The read write speeds are good and what we expected from USB 3.0 interface and also the games from the drives works fast and smooth.

Pros

• Compatibility: OS X 10.6 and Windows XP or later
• Separate on/off button for drive slots

Cons

• High capacity drives reconnects unexpectedly

Verdict

OWC Drive Dock is the best companion for creator laptops like MacBook and Surface Pro tablets. The only issue we experienced with the drive dock is the humming sound and vibration while using high capacity drives. The OWC drive dock is available for $68.75 on online portals. Well, I got to say that this drive dock is best for the price and the design is the best you can get.