I've got an enormous number of HDD's (3.5inch variety - all SATA).
I use them for back-ups and storage for photo/video.
Some of the drives I only need to transfer a few files to and then remove from their enclosure.
Is a docking station a good solution and what would one get?
I noticed this version - backing off a link in today's specials.
Are they good, hard working options?
And what's the best, easiest way to get e-sata into a MacPro if one went down this route?

I have been using this similar model (has FW400 as well as USB and eSata) for archives as it is cheaper and takes up less space in the safe to use bare drives rather than external enclosures).

http://www.scorptec.com.au/product/27720

I haven't had any problems as yet (only had it a couple of weeks) although I had heard reports of the drives getting warm (potential fire hazard?) if you copied massive amounts of data in one hit.

Certainly gets my recommendation as a quick simple solution.

Ive got the same one with firewire, seems pretty good.
I have only had it for a few weeks as well, build quality not great, but i guess it doesnt have to be

I believe Mac Pro's already have eSata ports... two on the inside. You just need to get extension cables that wrap around to the back, and remember not to unplug the drives whilst the Mac is running.

Thanks for all the info so far.
Really appreciate it.
I might grab the sata extension cable (as suggested by iPirate) for the 08 MacPro and innocenti's suggested caddy unless someone has anything else they thoroughly recommend!
Cheers.

Blinder, don't bother with the SATA extension; the internal SATA ports on the Mac Pro are not hot-swap capable. This would mean your drive has to be seated in the cradle and the Mac Pro restarted before the drive will be recognised, and the Pro powered down before you could eject the drive.

Get the FireWire-capable version.

I use a USB 2.0 cradle (it was cheap, and I can use it anywhere) and in the four months I've been using it, it hasn't faulted once. The heat comment above is valid, though, so some older drives (particularly Seagates) can get too hot and will shut themselves down; I've had that happen once in mid-transfer, but it was a big transfer, and on a summer's day.

Ah! Thanks Brains. I didn't quite cotton onto the hotswap aspect in its entirety!

But that also means if I got an e-sata enclosure at some point it must always remain plugged in if turned on? Until the computer is turned off?
You just can't eject them fullstop? Ever?

Ever. Not if you use the onboard SATA points in any way, extension cable or not. If you go for a PCI-E based SATA card with hotswap, then you're good to go (but of course, that's another expensive outlay for questionable value, as FW800 is just as fast, if not faster in some tests).

dotnet has a Mac Pro with the extension cable and a SATA-based SOHOtank enclosure running, but the box is always running.