IDE / SATA to USB Cable

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So basically an external enclosure, without the enclosure? Neat!

I would recommend AGAINST buying this item. Other reviews give this 4 or even 5 stars - I don't think I got the same item they did, or the reviews were fake.

Tried to connect the Molex/SATA converter and all four pins fell out. I had to research the pinouts for Molex and SATA to bypass the converter by hand. On top of that, the power adapter and cable have a very loose fit; the cable kept falling out and powering my drive on and off again.

All in all, this thing is a piece of junk that stopped functioning after about an hour of trying to use it; best to find a nice $30 IDE/SATA to USB cable and buy that instead.

This is all notwithstanding my negative experience with eforcity.com as a business. I tried to post a review of the item on the site but it was never released. I tried to post a review again, and was contacted by an eforcity.com representative - they informed me that any review giving a "budget" item less than 4 stars will not be posted, as it is bad for business.

I too had a bad experience with this; the pins fell out on the first use. The good thing was, I contacted them to have it exchanged and they sent me a new one immediately and didn't even ask for the first set back. The pins on the second set have not broken yet but that's because I have to use extreme, extreme caution while using... I just know it will break soon though. So, I'd also recommend to purchase a more expensive set than this...

Oink

My pins fell out also. But hey it was cheap and it works with 1.5TB's. I only use it once in awhile so it works for me and was cheap. eforce took like 2 weeks to ship it. But it was cheap!

The adapter itself is fine and quite usefull in a pinch. The included molex to SATA power adapter is indeep a piece of junk. Cost me another $3 for better molex/sata adapter from Microcenter, and haven't had a problem with it since.

Ben's ghetto dogs and their money will soon part.....

as noted," Tried to connect the Molex/SATA converter and all four pins fell out" , be prepared to replace the adapter
it works and cheap though

I agree with the others here.

It is "inexpensive", but it does come in handy in a pinch.

I have a couple of these I purchased a year or so ago through a different vendor (Meritline)...but they are not used on a daily basis.

I too had the molex connector pins pop out...but got them to go back (and stay in) with a bit of alteration to the metal pin. On another connector, the pin's metal tab (to hold it in the molex connector) gave out...and finally ended up purchasing a couple of the sata to molex connectors off from eBay for a dollar (with free shipping).

Also, a LOT of newer motherboards throw these in with their products. If you have a newer motherboard, you might have one already.

As for the power adapter...mine is still working, but as mentioned earlier, I don't use this on a daily basis, so others here could be correct that it won't hold up to daily use.

One suggestion...
I've found these to be quite usefu (2TB support):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066
I'm sure there are other manufacturers of this style of item, but in my case, I've found it more useful (although it doesn't support older IDE drives).

As for eForCity, I've purchased a several ink jet cartridges for my son's printer from eForCity over the last couple of years without any problems. The shipping was prompt and the cartridges all worked. Hopefully their customer support haven't slipped.

One last item. Does it seem to anyone that their website template (design) is similar to Amazon? Just a curiosity, not a criticism.

Ditto on the mlex connector. But I have another problem, which is that my machine is not recognizing IDE drives (3.5") attached with the thing. Drives are recongized using an older IDE only connector, so problem is not with the drive. SATA hookups work OK. So I cannot recommend even at this price.

I have plenty of the molex to sata power cables, my prob with this thing is that it doesn't support 2.5" SATA HD's, what's up with that?

Say what #11, 2.5 SATA's use the same connectors as 3.5, AFAIK?

True #12, 2.5" SATA are the same as 3.5" SATA. I have used this adapter with several laptop 2.5" SATA drives.

As for pins falling out there is a solution. If you find the SATA connector on the adapter itself is loose, pop open the shell (very easy to do) and put down a small bead of epoxy around it... just be sure you don't put too much on such that it interferes with putting the cover back on, I suggest putting the cover back on before the epoxy sets to be sure it will fit).

As for the other pins in the molex plug, plug that into a drive so the pins are all aligned, held perfectly straight. Now turn the drive up on end with the molex plug facing up. Next dab just a little bit of epoxy around the wires where they enter the connector, but be SURE you don't put so much on that it runs down in too far and permanently connects the plug to the drive, use about a BB sized blob per wire and coat the wire well.

My main gripe with this product is the PSU is fairly poorly engineered, minimal filter circuit on the low voltage side of the switching circuit. For short term use like salvaging data it does ok but I would not want to run a drive from it continuously... when possible I plug in an SATA power plug from the PC PSU instead of using the included brick PSU.

You get 5 pieces for $9, that's less than $2 each, that's dirt cheap. What the hell did you expect - monster cable quality?! When you pay for tap water, don't expect champagne!

#10...

I've had the same issues with IDE drives also. I've had luck with trying the different jumper settings (Master & Cable Select typically work) and some Western Digital drives have a "single drive" setting.

You are correct, there is nothing wrong with your drives. It is the IDE to USB adapter.

I did some investigation while trying to recover some data...and if the drive is a VERY old, then this product probably won't work. I have tried my product with some very old 1.2g and 2.4g hard drives (circa 1996~1998) with little luck. I have better luck with the 3.2g / 4.3g and newer hard drive generations. However, I've not tried my product with any drives larger than 500g IDE Seagate and a 640g SATA Western Digital.

Best I can tell is that the newer ATA-4, ATA-5 & ATA-6 (UDMA-33 / UDMA-66 / UDMA-100) work fine but the older Single-Word DMA and Multi-Word DMA don't (or at least I can't get them to be seen in Windows).

I can attach them to a typical IDE cable (attached to the motherboard), as you have, without any problems....so go figure. Its got to be the IDE to USB adapter at that point.

But as #14 says, "When you pay for tap water, don't expect champagne!". It is what it is...and a fair deal at $9 if all works out for ordering & shipping.

#13...Thanks for the epoxy idea...I'll give that a try next time it breaks. And using the internal power supply is a great suggestion for all.

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