In my earlier review for the Liztek HDDS1BS, I marveled at its low price and unique sled-like design, where the 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drive, which you could hot swap, remained in a horizontal position. Despite the positives of such a design, for some people, the traditional upright docking station is more in line with what they want, either because of the slightly reduced usage of desktop real estate, the fact that it’s a proven form factor, or simply personal preference. That’s where the Liztek HDDT1BSB comes in.

The Liztek HDDT1BSB offers the same high performance as its sled-like sibling, but does so with a traditional top-slot loading (vertical) design. At only $22.95 on Amazon, it provides a similarly great value.

The package contents include the main Liztek USB 3.0 Single Bay HDD Docking Station, a USB 3.0 data cable, a power adapter, and documentation. Packaging and hardware build quality were again excellent.

I tested the docking station using the same 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm hard drive as before on my Windows 7 desktop PC. Using USB 3.0, you can expect transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps, which obviously varies based on drive and computer performance. Naturally, using this device with USB 2.0 will result in a more dramatic performance reduction.

While Liztek claims the docking station will support Windows XP or higher, as well as Mac OS X-based computers, this should work with most other operating systems or devices that can normally access hard drives over USB connections, particularly since setup is driver free.

As stated earlier, hot swapping is an option, so quickly switching out hard drives even when the device is powered on is about as hassle free as it gets. As with the other Liztek docking station, you get a generous 18 month warranty, which is the perfect way to cap off yet another unequivocal recommendation from me.

Special thanks again to Gurin for the review unit. Be sure to also check out Liztek’s other products at www.liztek.com.