#Sabrent hard drive adapter how to
#Sabrent hard drive adapter full
#Sabrent hard drive adapter Pc

If youвЂ™re using an adapter, youвЂ™ll need to use the appropriate side of the adapter (it has a side for 3.5 IDE, 2.5 IDE, and SATA).

Drop the hard drive into the slot and turn the dock on.

#Sabrent hard drive adapter Pc

Connect the dock to your PC just like you would connect an external drive. After you get the hardware, all you need to do is connect the drive to it, and then connect the hardware to the PC. Connect the Hard DriveДeciding on the hardware you want is the trickiest part of this whole endeavor. Best of all, this adapter supports both SATA and IDE drives.

#Sabrent hard drive adapter how to

The Sabrent model packages both the adapter and power supply together so youвЂ™re not left trying to figure out how to power your drives. This is where many of the adapters you find out there fall short: they provide a cable, but youвЂ™re expected to provide the power via an old PSU or something. ItвЂ™s reliable, speedy, and, comes with its own molex transformer so you can power the drives. The model we like is the Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA/IDE AdapterВ ($23). If you only occasionally need to hook up an old drive-or even just need to do it once-youвЂ™re probably better off with an adapter.В Historically, such adapters were on the flaky side, but improvements in both Windows and the hardware itself has yielded dependable functionality at really reasonable prices. So, if you need to work with really old IDE drives in addition to SATA drives, you may have to pick up a second dock. If you routinely work with old drives, a dock is well worth the price.В The only problem is that hardly anyone makes a dock that supports both IDE and SATA connections anymore. Some docks even let you connect two hard drives at once. The beauty of a dock like this is that you can leave it connected to your PC and just plug in an old hard drive whenever you need access. On the more expensive side of things, you can pick up a dock for around $30-40 like this Anker USB 3.0 dock. If youвЂ™re looking for something that lets you easily connect old drives to your PC temporarily, you can use a dock or a simple adapter. The trouble with an enclosure is that it takes almost as much time to mount the drive in an enclosure as it does to mount the drive in your PC. You can find drive enclosures for as little as $10. After mounting your drive in the enclosure and buttoning things up, youвЂ™ve essentially got an external drive you can connect however you want.

#Sabrent hard drive adapter full

If youвЂ™re looking to make a more permanent external drive out of an old hard drive, you can buy a full enclosure. There are different styles of gadgets that let you connect a hard drive as an external drive. RELATED: How to Turn an Old Hard Drive Into an External Drive There are much better solutions around these days. But thatвЂ™s a lot of work to solveВ a temporary need. If you ever need to get the data off an old drive-or just want to check the drive and maybe erase it before disposal-you could always crack open your PC and mount the drive inside. ThereвЂ™s hardly a geek around, or even casual computer owner for that matter, that doesnвЂ™t have a few old drives squirreled away.