Cru dataport 8510-5002-9500 dock and carrier

[Bob Hart]

Just a bit of a headz-up on this item.


The following comments are not factory or vendor approved process, nor am I in any way trained or qualified with this appliance. Risks of damage from your interventions in the appliance by following this instruction set are your own. Furthurmore, manufacturer/vendor warranties may be voided.

If you have bought in from local source or eBay and are using the SATA version Dataport25 dock with supplied carrier for fitting to your editing computer and using the supplied non-USB carrier, take care to check that the supplied screws for the two fastenings in the rear of the carrier each side of the conductor strip do not impinge on the little circuit board immediately beneath them in the rear.

For safety sake, I have added two 0.1mm approx thin pieces of hard clear plastic sheet from a wrapper beneath the screws to prevent electrcal contact in event of the dataport being dropped and the internal drive surviving.

I have also filed the screw ends down by about 1.5mm to make sure there remains a clearance. On the little circuit board, there is a component which reduces the clearance and the screw-end touches it.

On the Dataport USB carriers supplied by P+S Technik, there are two added thin foam spacers with conductive woven mesh added between the rear cover and the internal frame. I assume this was packing to place the screw-ends a little higher.

The mesh appears to be to retain electrical continuity for the stainless casework. The small component is not present on the P+S Dataports, only a blank circuit board surface.

The 8510-5002-9500 dock and carrier comes with a circular key and spare. These plus a generous supply of screws of two lengths are inside the carrier.

The carrier may be tight in the dock when you attempt to separate them. Be assured, the dock can not be locked with the keys inside like a cash register. It is likely that the initial fit is a bit tight until a few operations have taken place and surfaces free up.

Do not apply overpressure on the release button. Try applying pressure whilst gently twisting the dock frame just a little a few times. If the carrier does not spring free, then maybe try very gently twisting a flathead screwdriver covered in gaffer tape, placed in between the rear of the carrier and the dock, whilst pressing on the release button at the same time.

Make sure the screwdriver end is not pressing on a black lever strip in the space between the rear of the carrier and the rear of the dock. Place the screwdriver end in a corner, not in centre. The carrier structure is not assembled so only one side may ease free a little and the front may appear to pop on one side. Go to the other corner and ease that side forward a little. Then the carrier should have eased enough to pull it free.

Once a drive has been assembled into the carrier it becomes part of the integral structure which becomes firm. Make sure the carrier frame is square around the drive and that the screws are evenly positioned in the slotholes so that the carrier structure is correctly aligned in the dock.

The carrier does work on the SI2K with a single approved drive but of course, no USB out on the front, so it is copy out to a courier drive from the camera body's own USB connection.

Read the instruction sheet which comes with the appliance. There are two SATA connections on back of the dock for connection to your computer's innards, one to the lower drive, one to the upper. I have only fitted a single drive to the carrier.

Given the value tied up on the recorder unit body, I strongly recommend that precautions be taken with the two rear screws as outline above.