Review of SATA to USB Adapter

SATA to USB Adapter

This no-name adapter allows you to connect SATA drives to USB ports. Useful when you run out of SATA ports for backup drives. Not 100% reliable.

I bought a 250GB SATA harddrive recently and realised I’d made a big boo-boo when I opened the computer and discovered I only had 2 SATA connections and they were both in use.

Initially I thought of getting an external enclosure which connected via USB but decided I preferred to keep the drive inside the case.

I found a very inexpensive SATA-USB adapter on eBay and ordered it. Unfortunately I was also out of SATA power leads and separately ordered some Molex-SATA convertors/splitters for a few Euro from a UK supplier on eBay.

The USB adapter arrived and I installed everything. I connected it to one of the internal USB ports on the back of one of my PCI USB cards.

Initial signs were good but then I tried to copy 75GB of data to the drive. After 25GB I got the dreaded “failed write to device” error I haven’t seen in several years from a USB storage device.

I nearly gave up but tried connecting to a second, different model of PCI USB card. So far I’ve copied about 90GB with no issue. However, just to be safe, I’ve bought a cheap PCI SATA adapter and will test that and report back with a review.

Rated 3/5 on Jul 26 2007 by Mr C

Review of Bluetooth 2.0 USB Adapter

Bluetooth 2.0 USB Adapter

This no-name device works like a charm. Tiny, fast with Nokia N70 and decentish BlueSoleil drivers. Dirt cheap on eBay

I’ve had a tough time with Bluetooth adapters over the years. I’ve never found them very reliable and always dog slow. However at time I found it easier to get a 3G data connection using my mobile phone using bluetooth rather than the dreaded Nokia data cable.

I was looking for some cheap components on eBay recently and spotted a new Bluetooth 2.0 adapter for almost nothing. The main advantage of 2.0 is speed. Probably still not up to HSDPA which explains why those 3G modems are USB rather than Bluetooth.

I impulse purchased it and have been so happy with it that I bought a second one. At €7.50 incl P&P from Hong Kong who can resist?

When setup and with the BlueSoleil drivers installed, Nokia PC Suite works very reliably with it. I’ve had stability issues in the past with BlueSoleil. I’ve also had upgrade problems where they claimed my old adapter was basically supplied with a non-authorised copy of the software. I hope the same is not the case this time.

The only real problem comes when you remove the adapter and re-insert later. The drivers are OK with it but the Nokia PC Suite rubbish refuses to re-make the connection until a reboot is done.

I also managed to get my Bluetooth headset working with my desktop using this adapter. Now I have hands-free wire-free Skype calls.

Highly recommended.

As it is no-name you need to search for Bluetooth 2.0 on the Kabrothers eBay shop and find the latest one on offer.

Rated 4/5 on Jul 26 2007 by Mr C