Question 1

Picture has no individual power or cloning buttons like the USB 2.0 unit. How do you control cloning and/or individual HD access as well as HD power?

Accepted Answer

The StarTech USB 3 based hard drive duplicator has a rocker type power button on the back of the case, like the power button on the power supply of a desktop PC.  Flip one way, its off, flip the other way, it's on.  The lights on the front come on, when power is turned on.  On the front of the case, at the lower right is a Clone button.  It is small, so that users won't accidentally press it.  To start cloning of hard drives, two drives must be inserted in the unit, and the user must press and hold down the Clone button for about 3-4 seconds for cloning to start.  There is a similar sized (but recessed) Erase button on the back of the case.  When it is pressed and held for 3-4 second, erasing will begin on any hard drive that is inserted in the duplicator.  Erasing will occur for either slot.  The button is recessed, so that accidental erasing will not occur.  Hard drive access for file reading or writing can be done by plugging a USB 3 cable (provided) into the back of the case in the USB 3 port, and also to a desktop or notebook PC.  The front lights will become activity lights for the individual hard drives inserted into the duplicator unit.  Access to the hard drives is by the normal Windows Explorer, or other software on a PC that the duplicator is connected to.  This way, after cloning, a hard drive may be updated by manual or automatic means from the hard drive in a PC, without installing it physically into the PC.  I only use my cloned drives as emergency backup hard drives, in case of hard drive failures or in the event of file corruption, and keep all of my data backed up, manually and automatically on portable drives, connected to the same PC, and stored both on site, and off site.

Question 2

Anyone tried cloning a win8 Drive. My old startech duplicator won't do it.

Accepted Answer

I have been successful in doing a clone of windows 8-8.1. I first downloaded the apk from M.S. on the source drive. There's complete instructions on how to do this on their website  (as of a yr ago*). 
MS has a clone type install for 7(All) and 8-8.1 All versions. I don't know about Win10... As long as you have a M.B with the built-in key, I have been able to get a "free OS" on a new hard drive. I hope this helps someone else out there- Questions? Ask pls...

Question 3

Is this unit backward compatable with USB 2.0?

Accepted Answer

Yes it is BUT remember that usb 2.0 only transfers at at top speed of 480 Mbps. So even tho this unit has a USB 3.0 connector capable of tranfering data at a max of 5 Gbps,  if it then gets connected to a USB 2.0 connector then it will only transfer data at the USB 2.0 connector speed of 480 Mbps speed. Yes, It IS backward compatable but at the much lower & much slower 480 Mbps speed !

Question 4

Does it do the dod erase?

Accepted Answer

That would be awesome, but no.

StarTech.com 6 Bay USB 3.0/ eSATA Duplicator and Eraser Dock for 2.5" & 3.5" SATA SSD HDD - 1:5 Standalone Cloner & Wiper Docking Station (SATDOCK5U3ER)

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