Today we will be reviewing the Voyager Q but first a little bit about the company.

NewerTechnology was first company to develop and sell memory products for the Macintosh® computer line. The DART high-density memory system increased computer performance up to 2000%. The Attention! memory board and hardware/software upgrades were unveiled for both IBM®-compatible and Macintosh computers. Faced with changing market conditions in the late 1990’s, the NewerTech product line was expanded to include MAXPower multi-speed processor accelerators for Macintosh computers. NewerTech was the first company in the world to offer processor upgrades for Power Macintosh 604, Power Mac® G3, Power Mac G4, iMac® G3, iMac G4, PowerBook® 603e, and PowerBook G3 machines. The 2000’s have further solidified NewerTech’s reputation as a leading developer of performance upgrades for Macintosh desktop computers, PowerBooks, iMacs, Intel-based Macintosh computers, iPods®, and iPhones®. Always expanding, always trying new things NewerTechnology will be around for generations to come providing their customers the best in computer and computer related products.

Now with that little blurb out of the way, lets start looking at this hard drive docking station and first up is the specifications and features.

General Specifications

• Bridge Chipset: Oxford 934DSb
• Material: ABS black plastic with non-skid rubber feet
• Power: External Auto-Switching US/Intl. UL Listed 100-240V AC/ 50-60Hz, 12V/3A Output
• Dimensions: 3.937" x 5.925" x 3.169" (W x D x H)
• Weight: 1.32 lb (without drive)
• Warranty: One year warranty Register

Status LED

• Blue = Power
• Flashing Red = Disk Activity

Interface / Ports

• (1) eSATA port
• (2) FireWire 800 (1394b) ports
• (1) FireWire 400 (1394a) port
• (1) USB 2.0/1.1 Mini-B port

Transfer Rates

• eSATA: up to 3.0Gb/s (384MB/s)
• FireWire 800: up to 800Mbps (100MB/s)
• FireWire 400: up to 400Mbps (50MB/s)
• USB 2.0: up to 480Mbps (60MB/s)

Compatibility:

• Macintosh Requirements: Macintosh OS 8.6 to 9.2.2, OS X 10.2.x or later, and an available FireWire, USB, or eSATA port.
• Windows Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, 98, and an available FireWire, USB, or eSATA port.

• Supports all 2.5" and 3.5" SATA I/II hard drives and Intel SSD drives* up to 2.0TB
• "Quad Interface" for maximum data transfer rates and system compatibility
• Data transfer rates up to 3.0Gb/s (300MB/s)
• Hard drive eject lever for safe removal of 3.5" drives
• Hot-Swap functionality for fast access of multiple hard drives*
• Weighted base and non skid rubber feet for stable operation
• Status LED:
  Blue = Power
  Flashing Red = Disk Activity
• Compact design…measures 3.937" x 5.95" x 3.169" inches
• Whisper Quiet operation…no cooling fan needed
• Plug and Play with Macs and PCs
• All interface connection cables included
• RoHS Compliant
• One year warranty
• FCC, CE approved

*Does not recognize Crucial M225 SSD mechanisms.
*Use of eSATA interface requires system reboot in order to recognize hard drive.

The packaging is well designed, easy to understand and clearly lays out all the features and capabilities of this docking station. We would go into more detail but we all know this is the first thing trashed when you get your hands onto a new toy so we shall move on and save you the suspense.

No folks, it's not a toaster, and yes those were the first thoughts that jumped into our heads when we first laid eyes on it. But, to no avail we just couldn't warm our pop tarts so we moved on to check out the device and later test it out with a Seagate 1.5TB SATA Hard Drive.

The device is nice and compact with a pretty heavy base for stability. At the front you have the main power button, which is surrounded by an LED indicator ring that states when the unit is powered and when the hard drive is being accessed. There is what appears to be the level for a typical toaster is actually used for releasing the hard drive from the docking station. Towards the top of the unit you will see a rectangular hole cut out large enough for a 2.5" SATA Hard drive to fit through and attach to the SATA connectors down below. Surrounding that rectangular hole is a flip down cover that reveals an opening for a 3.5" SATA Hard drive. The reason for said cover to be there is to add support and stability to the 2.5" hard drive when it is plugged into the unit.

The back of the unit is where all the connections are located, from left to right there is the Power port, USB port above, eSATA port below, then two 1394b Firewire ports, and finally a Firewire 1394a port. The next image display all the cables that come with the unit, each corresponding to one of the plugs mentioned earlier. Which by the way we are glad to see, a lot of companies now and days don't include some cables, what part of the industry that comes to mind is printers and the majority not including a USB cable.

...and now a couple shots of the naked hardware inside ;)

• Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 1010w Power Supply
• Motherboard: ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe
• CPU: AMD Phenom II 940 Black Edition 3.0ghz @ 4.0ghz
• Memory: G.Skill 4gb (2gb x 2) DDR2-1100
• Video Card: 2 x ASUS HD 4870 1GB GDDR5
• Sound Card: On-Board
• Hard Drives: Western Digital 640gb (2 HDDs in RAID 0)
• DVD Burner: LITE-ON LH-20A1L-06 20X DVD±R Burner w/ LightScribe Black SATA
• Operating Systems: Windows Vista Business 64bit

Hard Drive used for testing the Voyager Q

• 1.5TB 7200RPM Seagate SATA Hard Drive

The dock was tested with a 1.5TB Seagate 7200RPM HDD, and the results are as expected. The USB averages out at 30MBps, which is normal for USB 2.0, and eSATA gets a whopping 87MBps as if it the HDD was connected to a regular SATA port.

Note: Only eSATA & USB 2.0 were tested as they are the most common.

Instead of listing out the many features of this docking station again, we'll just sum up what the dock doesn't have. No IDE drive support, and yup.. It has everything else. Although IDE is an old, and some may say dead, standard many of us still own IDE drives that we would like quick access to. Although this device does do just everything you'd want with a SATA HDD, you'll need to have a second device for IDE drives. Nevertheless, this unit has an amazing amount of features packed into a small dock with more uses than one can list while staying sane. Overall a well designed, well built, quality docking station; one of the best docks we've seen would highly recommend for anyone in the market for a hard drive dock.

• USB 2.0, Firewire 400/800, and eSATA Support
• 2.5" and 3.5" SATA I/II Hard Drive Connector
• Easy to use interface
• Clear led indicator of docking station activity
• Easy to remove hard drive release mechanism

• No IDE Interface

We would like to thank Newer Technology for sending us the Newer Technology Voyager Q HDD Docking Station to review today. We would appreciate it if our readers would take it upon themselves to take the time to visit our fine sponsors. Without them and you we would not be here.