I used to spend Hellish hours configuring internal devices. Incorrectly set master and slave jumpers, IRQ conflicts - I lived through it all. Today, there's an easier way to install that IDE drive au natural. Simply plug the adapter to your unit and then connect the other end to any USB 2.0 connection and you are up and running. Great for adding an additional hard drive, a new DVD burner and the adapter does 2.5" and 3.5" connections. Source: Gizmodo
I was eyeing one of these a few hours ago today! Dan's Data has a nice writeup about this thing. Most importantly, he points out that USB Geek has 'em for $35 plus flat rate $3 shipping to anywhere in the world.
I've had one of these for a few weeks, it works as advertised. Now if there were an inexpensive firewire version my workbench would be much less cluttered.
Seen similar adapters onsale for awhile now. Neat concept.
Only wish it came with some sort of cover I could attach to the bottom of the drive so I don't accidentally short anything. Sometimes its hard to find a clear spot on a messy desk.
Thanks for the link Mendel. Ordered one up the other day and hope it arrives today so I can try it out. If it does work as advertised all my techs will be getting them for christmas in April.
Dumb question for those who might know more about this than me- other than the possible concern about shorting out the drive by placing it on a non-grounded surface, are there any other risks to using this cable? Is the use of just this cable more problematic than the use of an external drive enclosure?
The cable does pretty much what an external box will do minus the enclosure. The key thing is how you store the drive. If you jostle it and keep it in a dusty area, a case might be called for.
I used to spend