USB universal drive adapter

Community Forums/General Help/USB universal drive adapter

Jerome Squalor(Posted 2009) [#1]
howdy doo.

you may remember my previous post regarding my hard drive failure when i installed ubuntu. If not, here it is:
[a]http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=83792#946004[/a]

well, i have been researching online for possible solutions because frankly, the prices for professional hard drive recovery are ridiculous.
this is what i found "USB universal drive adapter"
the site for this says i can attach my SATA harddrive to it and read the files like any other external hard drive.
can you guys tell me if you know weather or not this works?

thanks


puki(Posted 2009) [#2]
Yep these things actually work.

I thought about getting one - in fact, this reminds me to get one.


puki(Posted 2009) [#3]
Here is one: http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adaptv2.php

Looks quite good - not too expensive.


Jerome Squalor(Posted 2009) [#4]
thanks guys.
Puki: that is the one i am considering to get.


TaskMaster(Posted 2009) [#5]
What does this have to do with your drive failure?

This adapter is just going to let you connect the drive to a USB port on another PC. You can connect it to another PC, just by lugging it into the SATA port on that other PC.

You should be able to boot a CD or USB Memory Stick if you need to do it straight from the same PC (no access to a second PC).


GaryV(Posted 2009) [#6]
I can't speak for the SATA versions, but my livelihood literally depends on a USB to EIDE adapter and it has never let me down yet whether accessing CDROM drives or hard drives.


puki(Posted 2009) [#7]
I like all the LEDs on it - makes it more exciting:






GfK(Posted 2009) [#8]
That one looks OK. Beware of cheap ones that draw power via USB - they sometimes can't draw enough to power the drive properly.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#9]
I've had mixed results -- mine worked OK with small drives, but I haven't been able to get any of the drives that are several hundred GB to work with it. I'm suspecting that the built-in controller it used has that good old 137GB cap...


Jerome Squalor(Posted 2009) [#10]
well the hdd i am trying to access is only 40 gb so i dont think that will be an issue for me.


RifRaf(Posted 2009) [#11]
IO Magic makes a few external DVD RW drives. With them you can take off the hood of the drive, remove the DVD drive and reconnect any drive you want. You can tell wich ones allow this, they have a metal hood with carved lines running lengthwise.

I think its about 60.00 USD for the one I got. They sell here at both walmart and target.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#12]
With them you can take off the hood of the drive, remove the DVD drive and reconnect any drive you want, to connect via USB.


...Or you can buy an empty USB enclosure with internal SATA hookup and do the same. When I bought an empty drive enclosure I paid like $20 for it, which is cheaper than buying an external DVD drive if you don't intend to use it as a DVD anyway...


*(Posted 2009) [#13]
If the hard disk is dead a USB to SATA adapter will still not allow you to access the drive as it will still rely on the drive electronics to get it going.


RifRaf(Posted 2009) [#14]
it depends on if the hard drive interface circuits are bad, unlikely unless he spilled somthing on it, or had a power surge. Otherwise , he can still hook up via usb, and run File Scavenger on it. I have only had one of 12 old drives I couldnt recover data from this way. And it was about 10 years old, been in the garage most of those years.

Good luck.

http://www.quetek.com/ < demo of file scavenger


Volker(Posted 2009) [#15]
I use a docking station like this

Just plug in a 3,5" or 2,5" s-ata and connect it via external s-ata
or USB to your machine. Very usefull thing.