SATA/IDE to USB

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My sister owns a laptop. She has an old hard drive from a desktop that she wants to get files off of. For Christmas, I bought her a SATA/IDE to USB Cable from ThinkGeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bdbf/

This was stupid on my part since it doesn't have reviews/a company name/etc. I should have looked at Newegg/Amazon where there are reviews and the products come with a little more:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812232002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

We've tried the ThinkGeek and it's not working. Everything is plugged in right. Everything lights up and we hear the drive whirring and spinning. The problem is, both her laptop and now my desktop won't detect the drive.

We're using IDE to USB.

Any opinions?

Or should I just return it to ThinkGeek and try buying a similar priced, seemingly higher quality piece from Newegg?

Edit: Hahahaha, what the fuck. This is like the 10th time we've tried it, doing the exact same thing, plugging the USB in last like always, and now it finally worked. She's cheering. What a temperamental little device.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Those are very tempermental in my experience.

[Ddrak]

Is it powered from the mains or from the USB bus? The biggest problem I've had with these is not supplying the drives enough power to run if it's solely USB powered.

Dd

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We did USB to optical to harddrive. It was powered by the power supply that came with it.

[Falundir X`Viento]

Could be a bad cable, power supply, or even the OS. We use the Vantecs here for forensics work and they work fine.

[Select]

There have been multiple reviews for every product I've looked at saying they're touchy. Perhaps you guys just know how to work 'em?

I did try swapping USB cables and no difference. Certainly not the power supply since it gets it whirring hardcore, and XP should be compatible. I think it was just a temperamental device with likely temperamental ports. Unplugging and replugging the USB a few times finally worked. Connecting everything, then sticking the power into the wall, then the USB into the comp right after worked. That power thing right before the USB seems to have done the trick and it's been fine since. Temperamental!