Introduction

External USB 2.0 drive enclosures are all the rage nowadays. With the increased availability and lower costs of high-speed Internet connections, people have never been able to download such vast quantities of information and multimedia as they are doing nowadays. With all that data comes increased storage needs, and external USB 2.0 enclosures are the way for many, since not only are they portable, but they're easy to hookup, as they don't require you to mess around inside your case.

But what if you just need to grab data off of an HDD that's sitting outside your PC and any enclosure? You basically have two options - you can install it into an enclosure and connect it to a USB port, or you can install it directly into your computer and grab the data. Both require time, (though one more than the other), and just for grabbing data off a drive or testing it, this may be tedious. That's where the Vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter comes into play. This simply unit is meant to allow you to easy connect a drive to a computer, without the hassle of having to physically mount the drive somewhere.

Specifications

Firstly, you should know that this adapter is not an enclosure, and is not even meant to act like a traditional USB drive enclosure. Instead, it's likely meant for techies, or people who regularly mess with hardware as part of their job or hobby. If you've ever had an HDD sitting around that you just wanted to grab some data off of, but didn't relish the idea of physically installing it or opening your case just for a simple transfer, then this product may be for you.

• See the full specifications

Basically, this adapter is everything that a USB 2.0 enclosure is, minus the enclosure part. It'll connect to any IDE (both 3.5" and 2.5" or notebook drives), or SATA drive, and allow that drive to connect to a USB port on your computer. Thus, it'll be quite convenient if you find yourself in the need to briefly connect HDDs to a system, say, for testing purposes in a shop.

The product comes in a double-boxed package, with everything packed in fairly tightly. Opening it up, you'll find quite the assortment of accessories; even though this is a relatively low-key item, Vantec didn't leave anything out. Besides the adapter, power supply and AC power cord, you also get a SATA cable, SATA power cable adapter, 2.5" drive power cable adapter, and a manual and driver CD. (If you're still stuck on Win98 for some reason) It's a complete package and you shouldn't need anything else to get going.

The package.

Contents.

Drive adapters.

The power supply (or AC adapter) is basically the same sort you'd get with any drive enclosure, and roughly the same size. The only output from this is a 4-pin molex connector, and it'll work with any sort of drive, when used with the included adapters.

Power supply and cord.

SATA.

IDE.

The adapter itself has three connectors on it, one for each of SATA, 3.5" IDE and 2.5" Notebook HDDs, and supports capacities up to 500 GB. There's one connector per side, and since the adapter may not fit on some SATA drives, the included SATA cable fixes this problem. The USB cable and connector is also hardwired to the adapter, and is sufficiently long. Note that although there are multiple connectors, you can of course only connect one drive at a time to this adapter.

The adapter is nicely shaped and sized, and makes it easy to attach and remove from an HDD. It has LEDs on it to indicate when the unit is powered, and when data transfer is taking place. The USB cable is hardwired to the adapter, and is pretty much standard as far as USB cables go. It'll work with USB 2.0 ports, but if you plug it into a USB 1.0 port, the transfer rate will be limited to 12 Mbps.

Installation and Testing

There's not really much to say for installation, other than it's easy, and if it wasn't, then this product wouldn't really be worthwhile since it's meant to be used in an environment where drive swapping takes place. You simply plug the adapter into the HDD, (using the SATA cable if applicable), and then plug the molex connect from the power supply into the HDD. Then you can connect it to a USB port on you computer, and it's recognized just like any other removable drive.

One thing I noted was that there was no ON/OFF switch on the power supply; thus, once you connect it to your HDD, it'll turn on immediately and begin spinning up. Similarly, the only way to turn off the HDD is to unplug the power supply, or unplug the connector from the HDD. (I don't recommend the second method since you will have to yank something out of a spinning HDD.) While this may not be damaging to a HDD, I would have preferred to have a switch so that the HDD could be turned off without having to unplug something.

Connected!

All up and running.

You may also want to make sure that your HDD is on a secure and non-conducting surface before you connect it. Though, if you're working in a shop or a hardware enthusiast, you probably know this.

As for testing, there's not much to report, either. Using my old Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80 GB HDD, the performance results were identical to that of the Vantec NexStar LX NAS HDD Enclosure that I reviewed earlier. Transferring a 697 MB file took about 21.5 seconds, yielding a transfer rate of 32.4 MB/s. This rate was probably limited by the transfer rate of the HDD, rather than the adapter, but I can't be sure.

Conclusion

If you regularly play around with multiple HDDs in a test environment, or otherwise, and often need to transfer data from one to another but find yourself bogged down by having to install and reinstall drives, then this small Vantec adapter is perfect for you. It's great to have around if you work in a hardware shop, or if you just spend a lot of time building computers yourself. The only complaint I had was the lack of an ON/OFF switch, but that is somewhat minor. If you spend a lot of time swapping HDDs, this device will save you quite some time.

Pros:

• Easy to use and setup

• Works with IDE/SATA and 2.5" Notebook HDDs

• All cables included

• Good transfer rates

Cons:

• No ON/OFF switch for power supply

Thanks go out to Vantec for making this review possible!