Universal HDD Adapter USB To 2.5IN & 3.5IN Sata & Pata Hdd

List Price: $37.99 Discount Price: $26.36

Features:

• Box contents - Drivewire IDE/PATA/SATA to USB Adapter, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter and Apricorn's Upgrade Suite CD with EZ Gig II for Windows and ShirtPocket SuperDuper! for Mac
• High Quality UL Listed Power Adapter - Guaranteed to safely provide all the power you need
• Transfer everything in a few easy steps - Operating System, Data, E-mail, Settings and Applications
• Up to 480 Mbps USB 2.0 to Backup data in less time
• Interface - SATA or 2.5 IDE/PATA (40Pin) or 3.5 IDE/PATA (44Pin) to USB 2.0

Accessories:

Linksys Network Storage System with 2 Bays (NAS200)

Customer Reviews:

more versatile than the manual implies [Posted on 2008-08-20]
This little device is elegantly general in its possibilities. Indeed, it has more possibilities than those described in its manual.

The "EZ Gig II Backup & Disaster Recovery Software" that comes bundled with it is very powerful, and I say more about that in the next paragraph. Even without using that program, the hardware itself enables one to peer from any USB-equipped computer into the directories and files of a disk drive that is mounted on the adapter. Just as one can browse through file-containing directories (folders) on a USB flash drive, one can do the same with the contents of an intact disk drive attached to this adapter. When my daughter's laptop quit working for reasons unrelated to its disk drive, I removed the laptop's disk drive (a simple process requiring only a Size #0 Phillips screwdriver), connected the disk drive to the Apricorn DriveWire, plugged the DriveWire's USB cable into my desktop computer, and easily retrieved the document files that she needed.

Now to the "EZ Gig II Backup & Disaster Recovery Software." The happy ending to this story is that a potentially disastrous loss turned into no loss whatsoever and a painless disk-drive upgrade from 100GB to 160GB. Here's the problem I faced. Knowing that the shop which was going to perform an extended-warranty repair was likely to wipe the laptop's hard drive of its contents and reinstall Windows, I wanted to preserve all of the installed software and Windows customization to which my daughter was accustomed. To accomplish this, I needed to clone the laptop's disk drive and keep the clone when sending the laptop in for repair. If the laptop had still been working, this would have been easy to do with the EZ Gig II software: install the software on the laptop, attach a new drive to the Apricorn DriveWire, plug the DriveWire's USB cable into the laptop, and run the program. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that because the laptop was dead. Here's how I solved the problem. I bought two Apricorn DriveWires--one for me and one for my daughter. I installed my copy of the EZ Gig II software on my desktop computer. I mounted the laptop's original, 100GB disk drive on one DriveWire adapter, and I mounted a new, 160GB disk drive on the other DriveWire adapter. Plugging both USB cables into the desktop computer and running EZ Gig II, I was able to clone the contents of the 100GB original onto the 160GB replacement.

When the repair shop fixed the laptop, it did as I had feared: It wiped the laptop's hard drive of its contents and reinstalled Windows. No problem. My daughter replaced the Windows-only 100GB disk drive with the 160GB clone, and she was completely back in business. The only change was a 60GB increase in storage capacity!

USELESS DEVICE WITH RANDOM DISCONNECTS [Posted on 2008-08-22]
I really wanted this Apricorn Adapter to work, what could be nicer than having SATA and PATA choices at any given time. But as soon as I hooked my SATA drive to my USB on the back of the computer and I tried to do a Back-Up the drive started disconnecting in the middle of the Back-Up. The thing is, I wasn't watching this process all the time so I fear some of the data may have been corrupted. To make matters worse, I can not play Movies from the same external drive, the disk gets ejected constantly in the middle of playback, basically, the Apricorn adapter is useless. It is too late for me to get my money back but maybe I can save someone else from making the same mistake I did.

(Before someone from Apricorn comes here to blame me for not knowing how to use the device properly, I want everyone to know I am computer savvy and I followed their instruction faithfully. Even if some people have had no problems it does not mean their device works all the time. If you do a search on the Internet for this device you will find others with similar stories. I think it is possible they manufactured a bunch of defective units and dumped them in the market rather than recall them. They should have an official recall advertised on their website.)

OK to try, but keep your expectations low [Posted on 2008-08-31]
Pros:
-Worked for my SATA HDD.
-The bundled software looks promising...offers a seemingly simple HDD imaging program and HDD utility.
-Company (and product?) from USA (if you care about that sort of thing).

Cons:
-Did not work for my IDEs. Tried two different IDE HDDs on three different PCs. No Luck.
-Tech Support only open 8-5 M-F which is inconvenient for me.

Summary:
This product did not work for me. Would recommend you buy it if you live close to a store that carries it and will allow you to return if it doesn't work.

Copied One Killed the Other [Posted on 2008-10-01]
This product read a 3.5" HD that I'd had in an enclosure. But when I connected a smaller laptop HD, it was possible to get the pins on only one side and it fried my drive. There are cautions about ensuring that you connect the power correctly, which I did. Looking from above, it looked as if the connector was on correctly. It was in fact only on one set of pins, which meant the wrong holes on the wrong connectors. The HD is now dead. No need to say that that is extremely upsetting. I give it a two only because it can/ does read the 3.5 correctly.

Apricorn HDD USB Adapter is GREAT! [Posted on 2008-10-10]
1. Amazon's final price w/ shipping is darn competitive!
2. Product arrived sooner than the 5 - 7 days stated.
3. Fits all three HDD interfaces type -- very handy indeed.
4. Comes with cloning software, in case you do not have Ghost available.

Amazon & Apricorn each have my fullest confidence.

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