The USB to SATA/IDE adapter is very useful when you need to transfer data on the fly. It is cheap, I paid less than $10 with S&H. AS other had mentioned, the adapter is for temporary use only. It is not made to be left connected permanently as an external device. The quality is good, but it could be better. Upon receiving the adapter I gave it a try and I was able to read from 4 different drives (80MB SATA, 250MB IDE, 10MB IDE, and 40MB IDE). Here are some tips when using the adapter, First)Connect the SATA/IDE adapter and power cable to the Hard drive. Second)Connect the power cord to the outlet. Let the drive spin 20-30 Seconds before connecting the USB cable to the PC. Third)Connect USB cable to PC. After connecting the USB cable be patient. Sometimes it took up to a minute for Windows Vista to let me know that a new USB devise was found. I had problem with the second Drive I tried because I think I did the connections too fast. I retried a second time and it worked fine. USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Cable Adapter For 2.5 3.5 HDD
For personal use it is good
build quality is cheap but it does its work
the power cable pins are not strong may be they can be unsolder if you use too many times to plug in and out the power cable for serial hdd's and for sata hdd itz working cool.
If you are not worried about 10bucks you can blindly buy this one.
I bought this product to transfer files from a 3.5" SATA drive, which i had taken from an old external hard drive, for which i had lost the power cable.
I tried this on three computers 1- with 64 bit Vist installed and 2 with XP media center installed. Vista recognised that a USB device had been added, however, the computer could not find the hard drive. The two computers with Vista didn't even recognise that a USB device had been added.
Although the instructions say that this device is plug and play for XP, they also state(and the box states that there should be a CD with a driver and gives instruction on how to install it, however, no CD was in the box. I did a bit of research on line and there are many oithers haveing the same problem. I also tried to find the R-Driver III on line, however, i couldn't find it anywhere.
I bought this as a cheap alternative to buying a SATA Caddy. however it has become more expensive, as i am going to have to buy the caddy anyway.
Certainly not elegant in design and less than intuitive to use with a SATA drive, this cable adapter did everything I needed it to do -- flawlessly. I was able to connect 2.5 & 3.5 inch IDE and SATA drives to either a Windows Vista PC or Mac with nary a hiccup (drivers not necessary). Not having read other reviews prior to my using the adapter, I wasn't particularly careful about the order in which I attached the cables. All I can say is that it worked.
To use with an IDE drive, set-up is pretty straightforward: You plug one edge or the other of the larger end of the USB cable onto the pins of the drive. Care must be taken here -- it would be very easy to bend or break a drive pin (then you're hosed). With a 3.5 in. drive, you plug the end of the power adapter cable into the drive; for a 2.5 in. drive there is no power connection, so you'll need to use a powered USB port. A SATA drive requires the two additional cables shown in the picture -- one to adapt to the power adapter plug, the other for the data connection (which plugs, somewhat oddly, into a connection on the flat side of the USB cable adapter). The SATA set-up, therefore, uses everything that comes in the package making for a cluttered look but doing the job at a great price.
As has been noted by others, the quality of construction is pretty basic. I don't imagine it will hold up all that well to frequent drive changes but for quick data recovery of a drive taken from a dead PC, it was ideal and the price makes it reasonable even for a one-time use.
I got two of these kits because I wanted to clone one of my old hard drives onto a new one. In the past I've done something similar by taking apart one of my PCs and fiddling with internals and using some software that was not exactly user friendly. I decided that I need to transfer files from an old hard drive to a new one often enough that a more painless way of doing it would be a smart way to go, and yet I didn't want to use a dedicated external hard drive box. I needed a solution that worked just fine and was affordable and reliable. After reading several reviews for this adapter I decided to give it a try and i am glad I did. The product worked as advertised, although not without a few hiccups along the way. The instructions leave a lot to be desired, and it would have been nice if there was a graphical presentation of all the connections. The product is also of a very cheap quality, and several cables don't seem to fit very well and required a bit of a force to plug in (this is especially true for the power adapter). You should also let the hard drive that you are trying to connect to your computer power up first and then wait another 30 seconds or so before you connect it. Also, if you are using a brand new hard drive it will not show up automatically on your computer desktop but probably needs to be formated. I have tried using this adapter with Windows 7, Windows XP, Mac OS X 10.6 and Fedora Linux, and it has worked without a hitch with all of those and no additional drivers needed to be installed.
I have been overall satisfied with this adapter and would recommend it for lite or occasional use with an internal hard drive. For a more permanent solution you should consider getting a proper hard drive enclosure.
Just FYI.. the molex adapter didn't fit to the AC converter too well -- I had to mangle the crap out of it and rip some pieces out with needlenose pliers to make it connect (I'm talking about parts of the product itself, not the connection to my drive). Just your basic cheap-ass-ness. Once I got that in place it worked perfectly - Ide Adapter - Usb To Sata - Sata - Usb To Ide'
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