HDD dock

[LuckyNV]

Basically I'm looking for a HDD dock so I can plug in any IDE or SATA drive and take data off it.

preferred e-sata but USB2.0 will do I suppose.

Any suggestions? Scan preferred thanks.

must be cheap too

[Flibb]

I use one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-TO-SAT...QQcmdZViewItem

[staffsMike]

I use one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-TO-SAT...QQcmdZViewItem

Do you know if you can get them anywhere but ebay? That looks perfect to me.

[Infinite]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-18-405-0

Like this?

[Funkstar]

Do you know if you can get them anywhere but ebay? That looks perfect to me.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Shark...r-Drives-25-35

More expensive, but then, it isn't eBay!

[Flibb]

Do you know if you can get them anywhere but ebay? That looks perfect to me.

Maplins do them £25, code is 48965
they also do a proper dock A83HQ but thats sata only

[staffsMike]

Yea the sharkoon is what I was going to buy. Just thinking this might be a bit cheaper

Cheers for the links though.

I am right in thinking these will run 5.25" optical drives aren't I?

[Funkstar]

I am right in thinking these will run 5.25" optical drives aren't I?

Yeah, no problem.

• Enables the external usage of 2.5"/3.5"/5.25" IDE and SATA drives via USB

[staffsMike]

kool makes life easy

[LuckyNV]

I think that Sharkoon one looks the best bet, I just need something simple and temporary, cheers

[LuckyNV]

Received the Sharkoon late afternoon (thanks Scan + Citylink), after much wrestling with the near impenetrable vacuum-packed plastic packaging I got it all running great, plug and play for WinXP/Vista.

[staffsMike]

Yeah same here got it today. Only problem is IDE DVD drives.. you can't fit the power and the connector in at the same time.. doh. going to have a route around to see if there are any cables I can use to help.

Otherwise I'll have to steal someones sata drive

[UseItNow]

Just come across this, shame it's only SATA otherwise would be perfect.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Shark...ata-Hard-disks)

Yes, I do see that you've purchased the items, how are they in terms of being setup in no time?
I use to have a 3.5"/5.25" IDE Enclosure but it used to do my head in opening it up and putting the drive in as the cable was almost impossible to get out once it'd gone in. Hey, that was a couple of years ago.

[LuckyNV]

Although you are supplied with a rubber jacket for 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs the Sharkoon DriveLink shouldn't be considered as a long term external solution since the HDDs have very limited protection.
I just put the drives flat on their back on the table and did the transfers, table was glass but the drives didn't really warm up a great deal.

Setting up... since I've mentioned it should be used as a temporary solution, its very quick to connect everything.

Get the cables/DriveLink unit, get your drive.
Attach DriveLink unit to drive
Attach power and plug it in
Switch on DriveLink unit and plug it into the PC USB.
Its that quick and simple, no port stiffness or things like that.

staffsMike has pointed out a limitation with IDE opticals though, not tried it myself but I assume the DriveLink unit is blocking the molex connector on the drive.

All HDDs should not be affected though.

[staffsMike]

I did the old fashioned computer boi way.

I just pushed it harder until it either broke or went in enough to work... it went in enough to work lol

IDE things seem to need a reboot though..

[LuckyNV]

How do you mean?

Its essentially a USB device no matter what you plug in to the DriveLink, or at least I didn't need to reboot for my IDE HDDs that I used.
Used the same process as I do for USB pen drives.