Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black)

by Vantec

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000J01I1G
• Item model number: CB-ISATAU2
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (249 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #3 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Accessories > Computer Cable Adapters
  • #13 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Cables > Computer
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 23, 2007

Product Description

The SATA/IDE-USB Adapter gives you the flexibility of connecting almost any type of drive to your computer via USB.  SATA, 3.5-inch IDE, 5.25-inch IDE, and 2.5-inch IDE drives are all supported and can be easily hot-swapped to your system.  The included external power adapter will allow you to power your drives outside your system giving you the ability to quickly add or swap between drives without opening your case.  The SATA/IDE-USB adapter incorporates 3 interfaces to one USB adapters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy hard drive access, February 26, 2008

By 

H. Lam (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black) (Personal Computers)

This is a very useful device for anyone with a bit of experience tinkering under the hood of a computer. The package includes:

- the actual adapter itself, which provides an USB connection to 3 different types of hard drive connectors -- 5.25" / 3.5" IDE, 2.5" IDE, and SATA.
- an IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power adapter.
- one SATA-to-SATA data cable.
- one IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power to SATA power adapter.
- a mini-CD containing a manual and drivers. It is not necessary to install drivers in Windows ME / 2000/ XP and above systems.

Both the SATA/IDE-to-USB and power adapter cables are reasonably lengthy; 3' for the former, maybe 5.5' for the latter.

Vantec's SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter provides an easy way to access a hard drive without needing to install it into a computer. It also works great for extracting data from old computers without having to figure out how to turn them on -- all you have to do is take out the hard drive.

79 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good device for techies, December 5, 2006

By 

DrZ (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black) (Personal Computers)

I bought two devices of this kind, one is this Vantec USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE adapter and the other one is Bytecc, which is a little less cumbersome to use.

A device like this is a must-have for techies and pros who work with multiple hard disk drives and frequently need to quickly connect an external drive to a PC, regardless whether it's 2.5 or 3.5", SATA or IDE.

When I was buying the first one, I chose the box which weighted less, and apparently that was not a relevant reason, but coincidentaly I made a good choice.

Disadvantages of this device compared to Bytecc's one:
- More parts to carry with, more complex connection
- Needs a manual, which is, although mostly decent technical writing, printed in four pages per one printout without any collating or order
- The power connector (provides the same connection as the standard IDE drive type of power connector usually found inside of PCs) is connected to the power supply with a very do-it-yourself style cable which works but it's rugged with cables sticking out of it and it doesn't have the finish or an appeal of a good quality product.
- It needs several different power cables/adapters and it's easy to lose some

Advantages:
- Unlike the power connectors, the data part/connector looks a bit more sturdy/compact compared to Bytecc
- The SATA drive data connection is done via a regular SATA data cable, so it would work with any SATA drives with non-standard distance between the power and data connector (I haven't seen any like that yet and I've worked with both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives).

The USB and AC power supply cables on both devices are too short and could be at least 3' longer.

You may want to read my review of bytecc adapter like this which gives more details how this concept works.

Bottomline: Good product, mostly for techies, my experience with Bytecc one is better

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worked As Advertised, December 12, 2008

By 

PDK "PDK" (BOTHELL, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black) (Personal Computers)

I recently had a WinXP machine die, and needed to transfer the hard drives to my new Vista computer. I also had a couple of hard drives left over from a Win98 machine from another computer that died 5 years ago. I was able to transfer all four drives with no problems whatsoever. I'd seen in another review, that someone was having problems with large files. I had a couple files as big as 20GB, and had no problems. Best $28 I've spent in a while (the place where I bought my computer wanted to charge $85 per drive to do the transfer).