Since I wrote the review of the NewerTech Voyager Q drive dock last week, I’ve received a lot of great questions both via email and in the article’s comments. Rather than answer them individually, I thought it might make sense to address them here in a quick follow-up article.
What drives should I use with this thing?
The NewerTech Voyager Quad Interface drive dock accepts 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives with SATA I or II interface, but not the venerable IDE interface (more on this below). It seems like every drive manufacturer has had both production and quality control issues over the years. I’ve had good luck with drives such as this Hitachi 1TB drive, and also with the Seagate 1TB drive (both cost about $100USD as of this writing).
If I was buying a drive today, though, I’d probably consider the Samsung Spinpoint 1TB drive, which has a good reputation and is a bit more energy efficient.
Some people might suggest that going with a cheaper drive makes more sense, because this is “just” for backup. Generally though, I like to buy quality items even when they’re a bit more expensive, especially when it comes to saving and preserving data that’s valuable to me.
SATA I/II? IDE?
As I’ve mentioned, the Voyager Q uses drives with a SATA I/II interface, but does not support the IDE interface. Most Macs (starting with the PowerMac G5 in 2003), and many PCs made within the last 5 years have SATA drives, but some still (even today) have IDE drives. This means that if you have a stack of old IDE drives sitting around, this dock won’t help you use them.
If you’re not looking to use legacy drives from older systems though, this is less of an issue. I do have a few IDE drives kicking around, but they’re too slow and small to be of any value to me, even as a tertiary backup, and I’ve long-since retrieved any data I want from them.
How do you store/transport drives when you’re not using them?
You could get a Wiebetech protective hard drive case, which is like an anti-static, high quality, old-school VCR tape enclosure. They also make a fancy James Bond-style hard-shell waterproof case if you’re into that kind of thing.
Michael J. suggested this compact portable hard drive case. “Ted” suggested using this 5-bay hard drive storage unit, which is made from paper. I wonder if a warm (or hot) drive could set it on fire. Probably not.
You could also use anti-static bags from here or here.
For the record, I’ve been (carefully) handling and storing hard drives without special precautions other than common sense since the mid-80’s, when I used to build and upgrade dozens of PCs and Macs a day, and in the years since as I’ve done upgrades or repairs. I’ve never had one fail for this reason.
Now, I’m sure some uber-geeks reading this will cry foul here, saying that the handling of the drive didn’t cause it to fail right away, but that it created some kind of latent problem which only appeared months or years later. Please hold your calls and letters: I will admit that this is a possibility.
So if you’re really concerned about it, get yourself an anti-static wrist strap. It’s only $10. Make sure that your workstation is free of charge as well, use the anti-static bags above, and maybe you’ll be OK. You might also reconsider using any kind of drive dock at all.
Trivia: Fans of the TV show LOST may find it interesting to learn that anti-static bags work by creating something called a Faraday cage. The LOST character Daniel Faraday, played brilliantly by Jeremy Davies, was “named after” Michael Faraday, the inventor of the Faraday cage. The bags are slightly conductive and prevent localized charges from reaching the drives they contain when the bags are touched by people. If a the anti-static bag isn’t closed, though, it won’t help, so keep that in mind. And if you’re going to the trouble to get an anti-static bag, you should probably also consider getting the anti-static wrist strap I mentioned above.
Why not just use a normal enclosure?
It’s true that I could pick up an inexpensive USB2 or FireWire 400 enclosure for each of the drives I use for backup rotation. I could even spend more and get a FireWire 800 or multiple-interface enclosure. But I have a few reasons for wanting a device like the Voyager Q.
- I have a handful of drives that I need to backup, and I use a rotation system for each of them. This translates into a small army of drives. Buying that many enclosures (especially to support multiple interfaces, see below) would be far more expensive than a Voyager Q.
- Using the Voyager Q’s toaster-like dock mechanism is more convenient than plugging and unplugging a myriad of external enclosures and associated power and interface cables. For me, simpler is better.
- The Voyager Q does a better job of cooling drives than most of the inexpensive drive enclosures I’ve seen (although I bet there are some that do a great job nowadays).
- I need a device that will work with all of the machines I currently use, or will own in the relatively near future. Today, my main machine is a 15-inch (2009) MacBook Pro. I have a MacBook Air from work. I have an older white-plastic MacBook in the closet, in case I need an emergency spare. I also have an original G4 Cube, the best Mac ever made, prominently displayed on a shelf in my office, but in full working condition. My wife has the first generation Intel iMac. And although I suspect my next machine will also be a MacBook Pro, I’m not positive. I don’t want to spend money today on single-interface enclosures that won’t work for me tomorrow, and buying multiple-interface enclosures for this many drives would be expensive.
There’s more, actually, but that’s enough.
What is your backup system? How are you using the Drobo/LaCie/Voyager Q?
The MacBook Pro: My main machine is a 15-inch (2009) MacBook Pro. I clone its internal 320GB drive — where I keep documents, music, movies, and code — using SuperDuper! and the Voyager Q. I have two drives which I rotate for this backup.
The LaCie: I store all of my photographs, video, and podcast recordings on the LaCie 2TB 2big Quadra, set to RAID 1 mirror mode. Although this mirror does provide redundancy, it’s not the same as having a true backup, especially not an offsite one. I have two drives in SuperDuper! cloning rotation for this backup as well.
The Drobo: I currently use a Drobo 2 (Amazon link) as my Time Machine backup for the internal and LaCie drives. I’ve got a few Western Digital 1TB Green Power drives installed, and so far, they have been working fine. I also use the Drobo for temporary storage when moving or migrating large files, and I’ve experimented with using it for a network storage drive with both the DroboShare and the Airport Extreme. I don’t backup the Drobo.
Miscellaneous: I like to keep a few additional archives of media, old files, ancient backups, and other miscellany handy as well. Accessing this data via docked hard drive is much easier and faster than multiple-DVD backup sets.
The Backup Procedure
I use the same manual procedure for cloning all of my drives. The backup drives are named after the drives they clone, using numbers to identify which member of the set they are. For example, the LaCie, named Storage, has two cloned drives, Storage Clone 1 and Storage Clone 2. Naming them in this fashion tells me instantly which drive is docked and where it belongs in the set.
I use SuperDuper! to clone each drive at least once a week (usually more often), and rely on Time Machine for the in-between time.
Any problems?
Lots of people ask about problems with dust, drives disconnecting, failure to sleep, etc.
All I can say is that so far, I haven’t run into any problems with the Voyager Q. Things seem to “just work” the way one would expect them to. I eject and insert drives in a careful way, drives spin down and wake back up when you’d expect them to, etc. This is all taking place over FireWire 800 for the most part, with the Voyager Q last in the chain. Your experience using a different interface (or a different scenario) may vary.
Conclusion
Hopefully this follow-up article has helped answer some of the questions people have about this handy device as well as my backup routine.
Sure, I’m a little bit crazy with the backups and the redundancy, but then again, I spent about 8 years in IT and you can take it from me: hardware fails, and it never hurts to have a good backup … or three.
Subscribe via RSS
Pejoka
08 March 2009 at 5:25 pm
I think that this device is a really neat idea, and bought one. Unfortunately, I’m having all kinds of problems with the power switch not behaving. It powers off suddenly and ungracefully in the middle of an operation, and occurs within a few minutes of being turned on. It is as if static buildup simply toggles the switch. This problem is so consistent and frequent, I’m amazed no one else has complained about it. I live in the NW… it is not as if this is the driest climate in the world. Is my Voyager Q defective?
Dan Benjamin
09 March 2009 at 9:25 am
Pejoka,
It sounds defective to me. I’d exchange it if it were me.
I live in central Florida, where the humidity inside my house averages 45% or higher, and I’ve never had problems like the one you describe with any equipment used.
Tony Djukic
09 March 2009 at 10:12 am
Sold! NewerTech should be paying you commissions. Seriously.
You have me completely convinced. And to think I was about to spend multiple hundreds on assorted back-up drives.
Noel Cornell
09 March 2009 at 2:10 pm
Now if they only made a dual/triple or quad bay… There are some out there but I don’t think they are quad interface. FW800 and eSATA (if used w a Mac that has an ExpressCard slot and eSATA card) are the big selling points to me. USB2 is more ubiquitous though and necessary for that reason.
Andrew
09 March 2009 at 5:34 pm
Is there a reason not to use this full-time as an external drive? I’m thinking of it as a super quiet drive for my music system, where silence is appreciated. Keeping out dust seems like the only concern.
Noel Cornell
09 March 2009 at 6:02 pm
Dan, Have you experienced this issue before?
http://twitter.com/fraserspeirs/status/1301893595
http://twitter.com/fraserspeirs/status/1301920567
I’ve heard of this happening to before w other poorly written Mac accessories where the system recognizes the device as the same thing and then gets really confused… Have you chained together 2 of these enclosures before?
Dual dock where are you?
Fraser Speirs
09 March 2009 at 7:03 pm
To follow up on Noel’s comment, I ordered two Voyagers to be able to clone docked disks at full speed on my MacBook Pro.
It appears that all Voyager units have the same FireWire GUID (0x30E002E0454647), which leads to a kernel error: “FireWire Error: Devices with identical unique ID: 0030e002 e0454647 cannot be used”. Michael Tsai also mentioned on Twitter that his Voyager has the same GUID as my two.
The practical outcome of this is that, when you attach the second Voyager to the FireWire bus, the first volume disappears with the “Device Disconnected” error that you get if you yank a USB stick too early. Further, it seems to confuse the FireWire bus so completely that a reboot is required to get any device to be recognised on the bus.
Pretty frustrating for this MacBook Pro owner who only has the one FW800 port. I’m probably going to have to pick up an eSATA expresscard to get both of these drives working at something above USB2 speeds.
Dan Benjamin
09 March 2009 at 8:34 pm
Noel, Frasier,
I haven’t run into this problem, but I’m not using two of them at the same time (I only own one, actually).
I’m only backing up other devices (internal MacBook Pro drive, LaCie, etc.) so I don’t need a second one.
Sorry I can’t be of more help there, but it does look like an oversight to me.
Cory O'Brien
10 March 2009 at 3:04 am
I use a combo of SuperDuper and TimeMachine for backups as well, and have been very happy with it, as I feel that the double backup creates some redundancy should anything fail. I also use Mozy to backup my photos since it gives me some off-site protection should anything like a fire happen that would take out all of the backup drives as well.
Right now, in my Mac Pro, I’ve got a Western Digital 1TB Black drive for OSX, and then two WD 1TB Green drives for backup, one for SuperDuper, and one for TimeMachine. The Black drives are designed for performance, and they seem to do a pretty good job at that, and the Green drives are designed for low power consumption, which is perfect for a backup drive, since it can spin down between uses.
Justin
10 March 2009 at 9:28 am
I bought the lower-end USB/eSATA Q ($49) after Dan’s recommendation along with a couple of Hitachi 1TB drives. Since I’m only using them for backup, I can’t vouch for sustained use, but I’ve had no problems completely filling one drive and starting on the second in Atlanta, also a humid spot.
Paul Provost
11 March 2009 at 11:41 am
How about HD use as offline storage? Aren’t drive mechanisms supposed to be kept spinning? How confident are you that you can write a backup to a HD, shelve it and bring it back several years later?
David
11 March 2009 at 5:12 pm
Picked up Voyager Q
- Unfortunately FireWire plugs dead on arrival, USB 2.0 worked great. Even USB connection is much faster than what I was getting on DROBO 2 connected at FW800.
- I’m not too sure about MacSales, wanted me to pay for return shipping on the DOA defective unit they sent me.
Only my second purchase from OWC MacSales, I just hope this one holds up better than their miniStack.
ilene hoffman
12 March 2009 at 5:54 pm
Newer Tech has followed this thread carefully and would like to address the problems noted.
Unfortunately, early units of the NewerTech Voyager Q did have the same FireWire ID, which as noted, prevents daisy-chaining two or more Voyager Q units.
If you have two or more units, we have a firmware flash solution for the FireWire ID issue. Please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange application of this solution to your Voyager Q.
All currently shipping units do have unique FireWire ID’s to prevent any future similar occurrences.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has created for anyone.
On another note, if you need a secure solution for transporting your bare drives, we have the ProtectaDrive (http://www.newertech.com/products/compacc.php) for 2.5” and 3.5” drives. These silicone rubber protective sleeves protect your drives from shock, short circuits, and static electricity for less than $10 US.
OWC ilene
David
17 March 2009 at 7:45 pm
Received Replacement Voyager Q today
- This time USB 2 / FW400 work, but the FW800 plugs don’t work. Will send back and wait another week for another replacement unit.
Quality Control at MacSales, doesn’t look too good.
Steven Sorbo
29 April 2009 at 5:42 pm
In the discussions about transporting naked drives when being removed from a Voyager Q I though of this as a possible answer to the question of how to keep them safe. I’ve use this when I’ve removed a client’s drive for transport back to my bench to recover data.
http://www.newertech.com/products/protectadrive35.php
—Steve
Steven Sorbo
29 April 2009 at 6:11 pm
Doh! I see ilene beat me to the punch! :-)
—Steve
Robert Nicholson
06 May 2009 at 5:02 pm
Did you bother to pick up one of those cheap AKE eSata cards off Ebay to use with the Voyager Q?
Robert Nicholson
10 May 2009 at 8:41 pm
Does the Voyager pass thru bus power to devices hanging off it or hanging off devices on the same chain?
Mine doesn’t.
I can however see the devices..
So I have
A->B->C
C is not getting bus power from B which is plugged into Voyager A
I would expect C to get bus power either from A in
A->C
or
A->B->C
neither case is true.
Andris Stepanuks
11 August 2009 at 12:59 am
I have a lower end Voyager (USB & esata).
Seems that my unit is defective. Every time I mount a drive that has been used for a backup, it fails. The problem has been replicated with 2 different drives and both interfaces. Disk utility reports errors that can’t be repaired.
Doug
17 September 2009 at 5:02 am
Anyone having problems with the connections on the drives being broken or worn over time? What about problems with drives failing after time that could be related to mis-handling and or static. What about storing in a pelican case inside a anti static plastic case?
Eugene Chan
14 October 2009 at 8:09 pm
Any thoughts on 5400 vs. 7200 drives when you are using them for backup storage?
Rob
07 November 2009 at 7:45 pm
I just got the NewerTech Voyager Q from OtherWorld. The unit appears to work fine, except (as mentioned here) I’m not getting power passed through to a daisy-chained Firewire device. I had to supply power to it via a USB power cable. After that, it mounts and works properly.
blayn.
06 January 2010 at 1:40 pm
Have you guys heard about MBP’s blowing out bridges through the firewire port? It seems they throw too much power or something, perhaps that might be causal to some of the issues you guys seem to have through FireWire with the voyagers? I just got mine yesterday, after reading this article and it makes me scared to use FW after reading about the issue, I had a barely used WD Book fail on me about 8 months ago, and I wonder if that was the issue.
here’s where I read about it:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic4821.html#d28nov2009
Please let me know any thoughts. Would the esata express card give me much more speed than the FW800 anyway? I’ve been thinking of getting one.