I'm looking at perhaps buying an eSATA docking station to be able to easily plug in and unplug hard disk drives, particularly but not necessarily only for backup purposes.
Note: This is not a hardware shopping recommendation question. Please don't vote to close it as such.
Looking at different models, I find for example this page detailing the Deltaco SI-7908SUS which specifically states "storage capacity: 1.5 TB" as well as "pictured hard disk not included, only for illustration". A customer review specifically mentions that it does not work with 3 TB drives, although does not go into any detail such as OS, drive model, etc. From a brief glance, the vendor's web site does not appear to say either way.
Then there is the quite similar Deltaco SI-7908B3 which boasts on the box "all 2.5" and 3.5" HDD/SSD compatible".
My question is: Why would what basically amounts to a SATA/eSATA adapter have any say in what storage capacity devices are supported? Does it? Assuming the OS supports the full capacity of the drive, why should introducing another (not even a different, really) connector change anything?
Bonus question: Might it make a difference if the docking station exposes multiple interfaces (such as in the case of for example the SI-7908SUS exposing USB 2.0 and eSATA)? (I still think it shouldn't, but it'd be nice to have it confirmed.)
Best Answer
The magic number right now is
2.1TB. The dock shouldn't care about this limit (it just passes instructions and data back and forth between the drive and the computer), but your operating system needs special support to handle individual drives over 2.1TB:Source
This means things won't work right if you try to stick a 3TB drive in any dock if your OS doesn't support it.