Saturday, August 13, 2011

MUKii TransImp Hard Drive Dock Plus Review


MUKii Technology, a designer of power supplies, cases and various other peripherals, also has a strong presence in external USB hard drive enclosures and docks. MUKii has a few different options, but the TransImp Hard drive dock Plus is the latest version. The Plus mostly differs from previous versions because of the USB 3.0 support and live transfer speed LCD display.

What it is: By now, everyone should be well aware of USB hot swappable hard drive docks. For a power user, or anyone doing a lot of tech support, they are required purchases. Just for testing drives, or migrating data, they -will- save you time.

Using it: Of course the actual important addition in the "plus" is USB 3.0. For those that have not upgraded to USB 3.0, you are missing out. With the Transimp, speeds are virtually identical to onboard SATA transfers. Going from 30MB/s, to upwards of 100MB/s for an average hard drive, really cuts down on waiting for your 2TB drive to copy.


Testing reached speeds of 94MB/s using a Corsair solid state drive. The live display is fairly accurate, if slightly delayed. The display updates every second or so, and when transferring many small files, it can seem to wildly swing values. There isn't much point in installing any of the software, as every system that has USB 3.0, will be 100% with just plug and play. The folding cover over the opening guides smaller 2.5" drives without any guess-work. You will of course want to hold down the dock as you go to remove a drive, as the friction fit SATA connection is quite good.

One thing you will notice compared to USB 2.0, is the inclusion of the new style connector. This will ensure you know absolutely that a system has USB 3.0. This new connection is only on the device side, on the PC side, it looks like a standard USB connection. This is because the unit itself is backwards compatible with 2.0 systems that do not have the newest upgrades (this should apply to all USB 3.0 devices). It does however mean that you must be careful about losing the cable, your old ones will not work at all.






Features:
  • Easy Installation with Tool-free Design
  • Simple to Use Design; No Need to Add Enclosure or Open Case
  • Considerate Take-in Storage Bucket Design Keep Your Desk Neat & Tidy Any Time
  • USB Interface for Easy Data Access
  • Our Unique LCD Display Shows the Transmission Speed, keeping You Informed of the Transmission Status
  • Compatible with Any 2.5"/3.5" SATA Hard Drive / SATA SSD
  • Compliant with USB 3.0 Backward Compatible with USB 2.0. Transfer Rates Up to 5Gb/s with USB 3.0
  • White Paint with Aluminum Hair-line Surface Treatment Plate in Sleek Design
  • Hot Swappable : Plug and play
  • M1 Tuning System Included : Auto Format / Smart Energy Saving / USB Turbo / Auto Backup / Status Feedback

Conclusion:
No complaints about quality, ease of use, speeds or anything else with the MUKii Transimp Hard drive dock Plus. The only thing I wonder about, is the small ‘storage space’ on the side of the unit. I haven’t quite been able to find out what it is supposed to be used for. But overall, for the $60 price point, it is well worth it.


1 comment:

  1. Do you happen to know if this dock uses the JMicron chipset or the Asmedia chipset?

    ReplyDelete