Kingwin 2.5″ Mobile Data Dock

Better use for a PC’s floppy port – Joe

SUMMARY: Better use for a PC’s floppy port

The good guys at KingWin were nice enough to send a sample of their KF-25 2.5″ Mobile Data Dock to look over.

Key Features:

• Fits standard 3.5″ PC drive bay
• Two removable USB Devices:
  • 2.5″ Notebook HD tray, EIDE to USB 2.0.
  • Four port USB hub tray
• Aluminum & Stainless material
• LED displays
• Auto eject push button
• Provides both internal & external link modes
• HDtray chipset: Prolific/PL2506; USB hub tray chipset: NEC/UPD720114
• HD tray weight: 0.15 lb (65g); Hub tray weight: 0.20 lb (90g)
• Includes USB cable, cable for mating to a motherboard, mounting screws, he tray carrying case and instruction manual

Kingwin’s Mobile Data Dock consists of a dock the size of a floppy drive which contains two removable USB devices:

Once removed, the dock shows two empty bays:

On the back of the dock are two plugs – one for power, the other to connect the dock to a motherboard’s USB header:

The trays can be used in either slot:

The USB tray front has four USB 2.0 ports, the HD has nothing to show on the front:

Each tray has activity LEDs that light when in use:

The tray backs show the USB connector for internal and external use – there is also a power plug for an external 5 volt power transformer (not included):

All saddled up and ready to go:

The HD tray is a pretty simple – basically a stainless steel case with a small PCB for the HD:

To open the case, there are no screws – it’s held together by fins that mate to the top:

There are directions which tell you how to open the tray – I found the easiest way was to start from the USB port and pry it open from there. Once opn, you mate the HD PCB to the HD, place it in the tray and snap the cover on:

Easy? HA! I found I had to play with it a bit to get it to close fully. There are dimples in the top fins that mate to holes on the bottom tray – one of them lined up just so it would hit the top of the bottom fin and not budge over the fin – I bent it slightly and then it closed no problem.

Once closed, it’s a very nicpackageag – the smallest portable 2.5″ HD tray I have seen yet – not much bigger than the HD itself (note there is a vinyl sleeve for carrying that’s included).

In use, I ran into a snag – the USB plug for the motherboard did not fit my (old) motherboard’s USB plugs:

Consequently I could not test it mated to a motherboard (my newer mobo is not here ar present); however, I was able to use both trays as external devices and they worked fine – I especially like the portability of the HD tray – a very nice package.

Kingwin’s 2.5″ Mobile Data Dock is a very nice solution for using the increasingly useless PC’s floppy port – it brings four USB 2.0 ports to the front of the case and features a portable 2.5 HD tray.

Thanks again to KingWin for sending this our way to check out.

Email Joe