POWMAX EN2535A SATA / IDE To USB 2.0 Adapter - Retail

Comment:
The reviews before mine were invaluable to me. As I plugged the power into a drive, I heard a ''crack!'', so I unplugged it. As I did so, I could feel the power switch in the shell of the power connector moving as I wiggled the connector to free it from the drive. Turns out the shell, which should at least be glued, and at best be sonic welded, was neither. The shell was easily prised apart, revealing the 12V wire was poorly soldered, only 1/3 of the strands were in the solder joint. The heat had caused the insulation to peel back so that the 12V line was dangerously close to shorting to the ground wire. After stripping the outer husk back a bit to allow the wires more movement, I was able to properly solder the connections, and then crazy glue the shell shut - shaving it to make it fit better. The device now works like a champ. The device itself is well made, just the power supply is poorly assembled at the shell connector. With a better power supply, this would be a 5 star device!

Comment:
I just received my replacement here a week or so ago, and I'm pleased to say that it functions perfectly! Thank you TigerDirect for quickly resolving this problem and getting me a wonderful repacement.

Comment:
A wonderful tool! I was easily able to transfer data from an internal SATA drive without removing the drive from its host CPU. Note: the adapter's power switch is easy to miss. It's small and flush with the side of the plug which attaches to the drive's power plug. Haven't tried the backup software, nor have I tried the Backup Button.

Comment:
I bought 2 of these back in 2006 and they have been working great without a problem. I've been using them constantly since and still working great. They look just like the ones in the picture. I finally decided to buy 10 more and they don't look like the picture at all. These ones have the one touch backup located on the blue part, a nice feature if your going to install the software. The bad part is the power switch is located on the molex connector instead of inline with the cord. The molex isn't molded like the first two, it's a split plastic that falls apart very easily, and the switch is very touchy and if you don't switch it hard enough you can be copying something then suddenly your drive will start going on and off. So looks like I've got 10 of these that I'm going to have to solder the switch so it's always on, and hot glue these connectors shut. I was definitely much happier with the molded connectors.

Comment:
Power cord's on/off switch was defective, literally had to hold the button in the on position to get power to the drive. Release the button, stays in the on position, but power is cut off. Hopefully I'll be able to rate the replacement Tiger's sending better when I get it.

Comment:
So far, this has been one of the handiest devices I've ever owned! I often use it for emergency data storage, reading drives without installing them, fixing files on a system that doesn't boot... anytime I need a drive NOW! In fact, right now, I have files moving to a drive connected to it so I can format my internal drive with a different filesystem! The fact that it's hot swappable is a life saver! I'm probably going to purchase a 2nd, possibly even a 3rd and 4th one of these!

Comment:
My primary use for this device is with 2.5'' IDE laptop drives. I was concerned that the unit would not be able to spin up some drives since they are typically rated for 500ma or 1000ma current draw. The USB port however is only rated for 500ma. Also, there is no way to use the included power supply for this application. This unit was able to power and worked great with all drives including the 1000ma drives.

Comment:
Like the person in the other review I have used mine with Linux and windows both, UATA and SATA drives. I also bought one of those HDD coolers that bolts onto the drive for cooling and protection of the exposed drive as it mounts over the electronics of the drive. there is a pass through plug on the cooler so no mods are needed and the power supply so far is not having any trouble keeping up. Now here is another use for this item... I have Dish VIP622 and have activated the USB port on the unit, I can use this same adapter for my movies, The Dish Rx finds it no problem! I should have saved those old drives I tossed out :(

Comment:
I checked it with three IDE 3.5'' hard drives of different manufactures: Maxtor, WD, and Seagate under Linux OS. It works like a breeze. Two of those drives have Windows stuff on them and the Seagate one is purely Linux with two ext3 partitions. Each partition is recognized as a separate drive. I am very impressed! Also no problems with Windows drives. Seagate drive wanted the jumper to be in the cable select position. The other two did not need a jumper at all. Nice device, I highly recommend it. It has a very reliable Molex power connector. The only con is the power brick gets a bit warmer than I expected. But this is OK, you won't run is for long anyway.