Windows 7 Docking Station

When I just awoke and returned to the computer, I found it had BSODed. The cause for it was FNETTBOH_304.SYS, Which appears to be the driver for TurboHDD, a utility that came with the docking station to increase it's speed. I hope that this isn't an omen of how it will continue to be. It only adds about 5MB/s to it's transfer rate, but I would still hate to lose it.
 
I found an article that deals with USB in a fairly comprehensive fashion, that might be of interest. However, I have to admit that I'm not tech-minded enough to truly comprehend all of it. Still, it did seem to support the idea that the performance that I'm getting out of the docker is about what should be expected under the circumstances.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3-uas-turbo,3215.html
 
Something a bit weird just occurred, I switched the USB cable back to my desktop, and even though I used the same USB 3.0 port that I had before, Windows still tried to install the driver, but then popped that it had failed. I then recycled the power switch on the docking station, and Windows kept sounding off both connects and disconnects in rapid succession, but never mentioned anything about installing the driver again. Rechecking the connections didn't solve anything, so I connected to a USB 2.0 port instead. At first, that seemed to solve things, because it only sounded a connection once, without any disconnects, but then Windows popped a dialog saying that the file system needed to be checked. It performed that operation without finding any problems, but then said that the drive needed to be reformatted. When that was done, I attempted to check it with HD Tune, but it squawked about a read error and aborted. Restarting HD Tune eliminated the read error dialog and it benched normally, and the drive appears usable.

What I'm wondering about is the cause of all of these problems? The only thing that comes to mind is that instead of using Windows Safely Remove Device function, I waited until the drive was idle and simply turned off the power switch. I remember reading somewhere about needing to use that removing device function for a USB drive, but I can't count the number of times that I've unplugged a USB flash drive without any problems resulting. Is the powering off method that I used the reason for the problem?
 
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I've thought about that, but I'm not going to, unless I can find something that points to it being the actual culprit. Otherwise, it wouldn't be an action that I could justify to the seller or myself.
 
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You
I've thought about that, but I'm not going to, unless I can find something that points to it being the actual culprit. Otherwise, it wouldn't be an action that I could justify to the seller or myself.

The dock may not be totally at fault here. It could also be a plain compatibility issue with your system which is enough reason to go back to the seller for an exchange or return. These peripherals should not be giving us problems and should simply be plug and play as most USB devices claim to be. So you may want to look at another model.
 
That may be true, but I'm not yet ready to take that path. Before I do, I want to be able to eliminate anything that I personally may have caused by the way that I used it. Plug and play doesn't mean that it will always work, regardless of how it is used.
 
Plug and play doesn't mean that it will always work, regardless of how it is used.

I agree. But I think you've spent enough time trying to make that dock work the way it should. But this is me. If you think you can make it work properly, I can only wish you the best of luck.

Vantec is a great brand which is the same brand as my dock. Last friday I got another Vantec product. A dual 2.5" hot swappable hard drive rack. Direct connection to the mobo. Installed it in 5minutes and transferred my main OS SSD there. No issues. I can easily swap between OSes on different physical hard drives by simply pulling out the rack like a drawer. It can also be used to clone or duplicate a drive.There is also a version for 3.5" hard drives or a combination of 2.5" and 3.5" hard drives.

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Cheers!



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That's a nice looking product, but it wouldn't work for me, because I don't have any drive bay space left on any of my computers except one, and I think I have other plans for that. I chose the docking station so it could be used by any of the 3 computers.

A thought has been bouncing around inside my head...what is the practicality and legality of installing a program on the docked drive, and then simply creating shortcuts to it on the other computers that it's not installed on? I'm concerned that the software wouldn't have the registry keys required to make it work on those non-installed PCs. The reason for my question is because there is certain software that I'm licensed on, but not for multiple installations. The idea is appealing because I can't afford to buy multiple licenses of those programs. The best that I recall, the EULAs only cover installations, not how they might be used elsewhere.

I have also thought about how it might work, if a program was run remotely, from a non-installed computer to an installed on on a local network. I haven't delved into that because I have been having a problem with accessing one of my computers that is established on the network, because it requires logging into it, and since it it an HTPC, which I like to turn off and on with a remote, I have not set it to use a password to do so, and it won't give me access with a blank password.
 
This is an old thread so the discussion may already be overtaken by events. If you need only occasional hard disk connection, there is a dirt cheap solution that takes up no real space. It is basically a "cable" and a small power supply (which may not be required in every case). The cable is an adapter that has one or more hard drive connectors at one end and a USB plug at the other. It's a docking station without the box. I think mine cost around $15.
 
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