I just got one of your dual drive PSSes. It’s nice, but, and this is going to sound stupid, I can’t figure out how the heck to open the caddies :(… I’ve been trying, and I know the guide says to just slide the top off, but it isn’t budging on either caddy. I emailed about this, and have now broken a couple of nails already trying (just kidding :)!).
What is the trick to opening these things?
Also, are the drives suppose to be hot-swappable in the dock? It seems like when I had two in the dock, I couldn’t click on the “Safe to remove” (Windows 7).
Hi Jim - Thanks for posting. I think other people will have the caddy question, so the best way to answer that is with a video. We’re going to put that up today, and will link here.
In terms of removal and hot swap - the PSS docks are completely hot swappable, both at the SATA interface (when you plug or unplug a drive to the dock) and at the USB level - if you unplug the USB connection to the dock. You can also power down.
In all of those cases, it’s safe to just allow any writes you’ve started to finish (wait for the disk LED to stop blinking) and then just pull the drive.
Windows has settings for when to show or not show the “safely remove” icon in the tray, and it’s actually something people worry about a bit too much. Here’s a good article on it: http://www.pcworld.com/article/254868…
Take a look at that, and please let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks again, and we’ll get back with that video link. Thanks!
Bernie
Thanks. I guess I’m a bit OCD :)… Things like the cover thing and drive lights …
BTW, I have to say that the drive indicator on this dock is WAY better than with the lay-flat dock. Just about right, not terribly bright, but easily seen. I think that the one on the lay-flat dock is way to invisible, but the one on this dock is pretty much “perfect”.
Looking forward to the video, cuz, as I said, I tried multiple times, pretty much most of the night last night, and even had my daughter try, and no success with the cover.
Re. the hot swap, the behavior that I’ve encountered are:
I originally had one drive (in the front slot). Then, when I inserted a drive into the back slot, the drive in the front slot disconnected momentarily (Windows message said lost connection), and then both drives became available.
With both drives inserted, I can see both drives in “Safe to remove” in the lower-left (Windows 7), but they both show the same name, and if I click on one to disconnect it, nothing happens. The only way I’ve been able to disconnect it from Windows is to open Device Manager, then disable one of the drives there. However, both drives have the same name in Device Manager, so it’s a kind of a guess which is which to disconnect (a problem if the drive is in use).
Also a question: If I disable the drive in Device Manager, it disappears from Windows Explorer, which is expected, but the drive light on the dock is still lit. Is that expected behavior? If I have a drive connected (e.g., through your hub), and disable it like that or using Safe to Remove, the light on the drive goes off.
Hi Jim - Thanks for describing those behaviors - that’s right.
On the question - if you disable the drive in device manager, that won’t keep the dock from showing the LED when a drive is inserted. That is intended to be independent (partially because that dual dock also has the clone functionality that works independently of a computer attached).
I know you’ve probably got it already, but here’s the video showing what it looks like to take drives in and out of the plastic enclosures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWVcMq…
Hope that helps. It’s a nice design, no screws – but the normal expecation is you’ll be putting drives in once, and then probably keeping the drives in their enclosure from there out.
UGH! Three of us (daughter, wife, and myself) tried for awhile, even with the video. My wife finally got it, and then I got the 2nd one open. I think that the “trick” is th push down in the area where the “Plugable” is printed, HARD, and push the cover outward at the same time. That’s what worked for us.
My daugter remarked that it was really hard to open them the FIRST time, but a lot easier after that… like something sticking or catching initially. Maybe you all should check that on some new ones, because it definitely wasn’t easy the first time!
Anyway, both are open now… thank goodness :)!!
Re. the LED, understood.
About the Safe to Remove? I think I just figured that out. With both drives docked, and it shows both drives separately UNDER a “Eject USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge”.
Clicking on the individual drive, it does nothing. However, clicking on that “Eject…” area, both drives get removed, So, it appears that I have to “eject” BOTH drives or none.
I’ve never had a dual drive dock before, so maybe that’s “normal” behavior?
Great. Yes, it’s easier the 2nd time and on, for sure.
Yep, it’s a single chipset (Jmicron JMS566 chipset) controlling both slots. Windows shows the controller, and the drives under it. That can be confusing, as some settings and actions apply to the controller, and some to the drives. Microsoft’s docs kinda describe it, but we could write more on it. Will look to do that.