Home > Consumer Reviews > Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black)
Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black)
See it at Amazon.com for $17.98Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Good device for techies
(3 out of 5) by DrZ on Dec 6, 2006 (Chicago, IL, USA)I bought two devices of this kind, one is this Vantec USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE adapter and the other one is Bytecc, which is a little less cumbersome to use.
A device like this is a must-have for techies and pros who work with multiple hard disk drives and frequently need to quickly connect an external drive to a PC, regardless whether it's 2.5 or 3.5", SATA or IDE.
When I was buying the first one, I chose the box which weighted less, and apparently that was not a relevant reason, but coincidentaly I made a good choice.
Disadvantages of this device compared to Bytecc's one:
- More parts to carry with, more complex connection
- Needs a manual, which is, although mostly decent technical writing, printed in four pages per one printout without any collating or order
- The power connector (provides the same connection as the standard IDE drive type of power connector usually found inside of PCs) is connected to the power supply with a very do-it-yourself style cable which works but it's rugged with cables sticking out of it and it doesn't have the finish or an appeal of a good quality product.
- It needs several different power cables/adapters and it's easy to lose some
Advantages:
- Unlike the power connectors, the data part/connector looks a bit more sturdy/compact compared to Bytecc
- The SATA drive data connection is done via a regular SATA data cable, so it would work with any SATA drives with non-standard distance between the power and data connector (I haven't seen any like that yet and I've worked with both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives).
The USB and AC power supply cables on both devices are too short and could be at least 3' longer.
You may want to read my review of bytecc adapter like this which gives more details how this concept works.
Bottomline: Good product, mostly for techies, my experience with Bytecc one is better
A device like this is a must-have for techies and pros who work with multiple hard disk drives and frequently need to quickly connect an external drive to a PC, regardless whether it's 2.5 or 3.5", SATA or IDE.
When I was buying the first one, I chose the box which weighted less, and apparently that was not a relevant reason, but coincidentaly I made a good choice.
Disadvantages of this device compared to Bytecc's one:
- More parts to carry with, more complex connection
- Needs a manual, which is, although mostly decent technical writing, printed in four pages per one printout without any collating or order
- The power connector (provides the same connection as the standard IDE drive type of power connector usually found inside of PCs) is connected to the power supply with a very do-it-yourself style cable which works but it's rugged with cables sticking out of it and it doesn't have the finish or an appeal of a good quality product.
- It needs several different power cables/adapters and it's easy to lose some
Advantages:
- Unlike the power connectors, the data part/connector looks a bit more sturdy/compact compared to Bytecc
- The SATA drive data connection is done via a regular SATA data cable, so it would work with any SATA drives with non-standard distance between the power and data connector (I haven't seen any like that yet and I've worked with both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives).
The USB and AC power supply cables on both devices are too short and could be at least 3' longer.
You may want to read my review of bytecc adapter like this which gives more details how this concept works.
Bottomline: Good product, mostly for techies, my experience with Bytecc one is better
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Easy hard drive access
(4 out of 5) by H. Lam on Feb 27, 2008 (USA)This is a very useful device for anyone with a bit of experience tinkering under the hood of a computer. The package includes:
- the actual adapter itself, which provides an USB connection to 3 different types of hard drive connectors -- 5.25" / 3.5" IDE, 2.5" IDE, and SATA.
- an IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power adapter.
- one SATA-to-SATA data cable.
- one IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power to SATA power adapter.
- a mini-CD containing a manual and drivers. It is not necessary to install drivers in Windows ME / 2000/ XP and above systems.
Both the SATA/IDE-to-USB and power adapter cables are reasonably lengthy; 3' for the former, maybe 5.5' for the latter.
Vantec's SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter provides an easy way to access a hard drive without needing to install it into a computer. It also works great for extracting data from old computers without having to figure out how to turn them on -- all you have to do is take out the hard drive.
- the actual adapter itself, which provides an USB connection to 3 different types of hard drive connectors -- 5.25" / 3.5" IDE, 2.5" IDE, and SATA.
- an IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power adapter.
- one SATA-to-SATA data cable.
- one IDE (4-pin MOLEX) power to SATA power adapter.
- a mini-CD containing a manual and drivers. It is not necessary to install drivers in Windows ME / 2000/ XP and above systems.
Both the SATA/IDE-to-USB and power adapter cables are reasonably lengthy; 3' for the former, maybe 5.5' for the latter.
Vantec's SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter provides an easy way to access a hard drive without needing to install it into a computer. It also works great for extracting data from old computers without having to figure out how to turn them on -- all you have to do is take out the hard drive.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Maybe OK for casual use, not for large files
(2 out of 5) by Christian deLarios on Aug 3, 2007 (Dallas, TX USA)I bought this product to copy drive images from older systems to some new 500GB internal drives that I purchased for this purpose. I had some serious problems with copying the images to the drives (through the dongle), with it typically bombing out around 40MB on USB 1.1 systems and around 500MB on USB 2.0 systems. After messing around with it for a few hours (and discovering that smaller files worked just fine), I began to get the feeling that it was a faulty product. After trying another Vantec with the same results, I returned it and bought the very similar product from Bytecc. While I agree with another reviewer that the connectors are better on the Vantec, the Bytecc product actually worked with my multi-GB files, which is kinda the point. Score: Bytecc - 1; Vantec - 0...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Hard Drive copy device
(5 out of 5) by Ronald G. Mcleod on Jun 8, 2007 (Englewood, Florida)Vantec USB 2.0 to SATA (Serial ATA)/IDE Adapter
It works very well. With the outboard power supply and this device attached to a Hard Drive it is a piece of cake to copy any HD and save all the data to another computer or portable HD using USB 2.0 to transfer
the DATA
It works very well. With the outboard power supply and this device attached to a Hard Drive it is a piece of cake to copy any HD and save all the data to another computer or portable HD using USB 2.0 to transfer
the DATA
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Incredibly useful geek tool!
(5 out of 5) by Christopher M. Griffin on Apr 9, 2007 (Orlando, FL United States)Love this tool! I have used it with my MacBook Pro, my G5 iMac, my wife's Gateway laptop and a Dell desktop.
You can attach any device, CD-ROM, SATA or IDE Hard Drive and they just show up on the desktop with no drivers required.
Should be in any serious geeks toolkit.
You can attach any device, CD-ROM, SATA or IDE Hard Drive and they just show up on the desktop with no drivers required.
Should be in any serious geeks toolkit.