USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter Serial ATA, ATAPI/IDE 3.5" &2.5"

by OWC

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• ASIN: B0012TOG08
• Item model number: 3261599
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 28, 2009

Product Description

Digital audio and photo files are growing in use and size to where upgrading to a larger hard drive is becoming a regularly performed procedure. The NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter makes it easy to transfer data between the old and new drives as well as give the old drive a second life as an external storage solution. It's a complete solution that allows any 2.5", 3.5", or 5.25" hard drive or optical drive* with any standard IDE/ATA/ATAPI 40 pin or SATA interface to be connected via USB to any USB equipped computer for file transfer, backing-up and storing file archives, and accessing date on stored backup drives with Plug & Play ease. The connection status LEDs provide easy confirmation of a proper connection between a USB 1.1/2.0 equipped computer and an IDE/ATA or SATA drive.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NewerTech Kit vs Generic Kit, July 5, 2010

By 

Clay G - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter Serial ATA, ATAPI/IDE 3.5" &2.5" (Electronics)

I anticipated having to move data off 5 HDDs from an old WinXP SP3 tower to a new Dell Studio 15 Laptop. I'd researched several Universal USB HDD Adapter kits and choose the NewerTech kit. What arrived was a generic kit without the NewerTech "black block" with lights for power and data transfer confirmation. Instead, the power converter block had one green light that was not coming on. I plugged it in and tried to power up the first EIDE FAT32 HDD with no luck and a "burnt wire" smell soon filled the room. My Dell Laptop was PNP installing (2 drivers) and confirming USB Bridge connection to the adapter block with both IDE/EIDE and SATA connections with Win7 OS. After a couple of hours of frustration I called the seller and they eventually confirmed a replacement was coming with pre-paid return USPS shipping. The 2nd kit arrived 8 days later, this time the power converter was "green" and 4 of my 5 drives powered up and data was transferred fine at about 25-26MB per/sec. I think, but don't know this for sure, but the first drive I plugged into the kit was "killed" by the bad power converter block.

This is a generic kit, all parts made in China. I lost about 75GB of music and video downloads, a collection that was the envy of friends... gone. The seller did right by me, but I feel there was a "bait n' switch" as now, after notifying Amazon about the situation, the "featured" kit photo is NOW the generic kit not the NewerTech kit. I now have to contact the download sites, 4 or 5 and see if I can't get them to make my download history available to download once again, this will takes hours, patience and email... I wished I gotten the NewerTech kit first.

Finally, this is not a kit for "techies" who don't know what they are doing because there are NO instructions. You must follow standard HDD installation sequence by first having the USB cable connected, then connect the SATA/IDE cable and then last connect the power. Have the drive level or flat, don't move it around or even roughly handle the HDD when powered up, you can damage the drive or damage sectors. Good luck...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Product Works Great, February 28, 2009

By 

Inita Baer - See all my reviews

This review is from: USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter Serial ATA, ATAPI/IDE 3.5" &2.5" (Electronics)

My internal PATA 80 GB Toshiba hard drive was showing signs of death (click whir, click whir). So I quickly backed up my data on the external drive before anything traumatic was lost. Then I removed the failing hard drive and replaced it with a brand new 160 GB Samsung PATA and cloned the OS and files onto the new drive using the external drive as the master.

I forgot to erase the data off the failing 80 GB Toshiba drive and re-installing the drive back into the computer to erase the data would be such a chore. Also, due to a shortage of funds I couldn't go out and purchase a case to transform the Toshiba into an external drive for erasing. Fortunately, I found this little budget friendly gem made by Newer Technology, which lets me hook up directly to the drive using a series of cables and my computer to erase the Toshiba drive.

The PATA drive has 44 mini pins and at first I was a little worried, as I did not see the matching 44 female mini pin sockets on the Universal Drive Adapter. As it turns out, there are four pins grouped together on the PATA drive that don't need to be connected and I was able to connect to the Universal Drive Adapter while disregarding the 4 mini pins. All the connections fit snugly without coming loose and the colored lights on the main unit tell you what devices are getting power. This product works great for accessing various HD types (SATA and PATA) and sizes (2.5", 3.5", and 5.25").

My only gripe is the power block could be made smaller to allow for more portability of the system. The power block is approximately the same size of a laptop's power block. In short, initial impressions are good and this product works as advertised.

5.0 out of 5 stars Saved my e-Life!, June 25, 2011

By 

B_Line - See all my reviews

This review is from: USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter Serial ATA, ATAPI/IDE 3.5" &2.5" (Electronics)

First of all, just to let you know I am not a computer guru and have never attempted anything like this. One day my external hard-drive stopped working and like an idiot I had transferred all of my important irreplaceable information on it with no backup plan. I had bought this top of the line hard-drive that had received great reviews from a very well know electronic store. Within 5 months it had crashed! After speaking with the store it shocked me that they would'nt even attempt to retrieve my data unless I paid them over $150 and all that gave me was the files on DVD! To top it off they directed me to the company for replacement even though it was still in warranty. Frustrated I walked out and did extensive research and found a video on you tube about this one. I immediately ordered it. With simple instructions and ease of use I retrieved my data within 30min of opening the box. Like I said this has saved my e-Life! FYI. This will only work if the hard drive itself hasn't been fried. Do your research.