A Closer Look

The iStarUSA xAGE-902 Dual HDD Docking Station has a simple no-nonsense design and features two slots for two separate 3.5" or 2.5" hard drives. It has a black matte finish with an angled top so that the hard disks when installed have an offset look to them which gives it a more appealing look when in use. On the front of the unit there are two power buttons for each disk installed. To the left are two eject buttons for each disk respectively and on the back of the unit are the various connections. The eject buttons, while not necessary are a nice addition as they keep the user from damaging the SATA connectors inside the unit during disk removal. The power buttons are also welcomed since a user doesn't have to go fumbling for the power cord. However, the power buttons seem to stick from time to time when pressed, though pressing them more carefully the problem went away. As you can see, under the flaps are the SATA connectors which line up perfectly with SATA hard disks. Around the connectors are the metal flaps which raise up when the eject button is pressed. On the bottom of the unit is a sticker with the model designation and serial number.


Though not necessary for the end-user, we've taken apart the xAGE-902 to see what's inside. By removing the rubber pads and screws from the bottom of the unit, it easily comes apart. Inside there is the main circuit board which has the SATA connections mounted to it as well as all of the external connections. Two wires lead from the main circuit board to separate smaller boards which operate the power buttons and LEDs. Two screws hold the main board to the bottom of the unit, and beneath the board is a large metal plate to give the docking station weight and sturdiness. Flipping the main board over there are two INIC-1611L storage controllers which control the SATA and USB functions for each dock respectively. The INIC-1611L chip features a USB mass storage controller, a SATA controller, and a 8051 8-bit processor with 24k embedded ROM and 2KB SRAM. I could not find this chip on the inic website, however the INIC-1610 is listed here.

• Integrates USB 2.0 PHY IP core.
• Data transfer rate of up to 60 MB/sec on USB side, 150 MB/sec on SATA side.
• Integrated internal Turbo 8051 uP with 16KB embedded SRAM.
• Program Flash In-Line (Firmware download mechanism, USB direct for MFG Test, write .bta file.
• Local Bus Interface to Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) Flash Only.
• Support HID.
• Up to 9 GPIO pins.
• The option of using only one external crystal.
• Provide software utilities for downloading the upgraded firmware code under USB.
• Supports SATA (bridged SATA) Hard Disk drives, CD-RW devices, DVDs, Removable media devices
• USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 compliant.
• USB Mass Storage Class Bulk-Only Transport Specification Compliant.
• SATA specification 1.0 (1.5 Gbps), SATA II and eSATA Compliant (Hot Plug is supported).
• Support SATA to SATA pass through.
• Supports SATA NCQ.
• Supports 3Gbps SATA host and 3Gbps SATA HDD connection to internal 1.5Gbps SATA Phy.
• Support ATA/ATAPI device DMA and PIO mode.
• 4k bytes of data buffer for data transfer.
• One SATA channel support.
• On-Chip 3.3V to 1.8V regulator.
• 64 pin LQFP