I'm looking for a docking station to read some old hard drives. The hard drives are:
- Maxtor Diamond Plus 9
- Maxtor Diamond VL 40 5400 RPM
- Samsung SP1213C
- WD400BB-32CXA0
Any tips?
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1Are they all SATA drives? What's you budget?– user1691Commented Mar 4, 2019 at 17:22
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Just doing a quick search on the Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, it's available as both IDE/PATA and SATA. Please edit your post to indicate which interfaces each one has.– Digital BoffinCommented Mar 4, 2019 at 17:51
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Thank you for coming back to me. The plus 9 is Sata– DinisCommented Mar 4, 2019 at 18:15
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No, some are IDE and others are SATA. My budget is the lowest I can get away with– DinisCommented Mar 4, 2019 at 18:16
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Lowest you can get away with? Take the cover off the side of your computer and run power and data cables out.– MarkCommented Mar 5, 2019 at 21:38
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1 Answer
If it's just for just for reading some hard drives as you stated in your requirements, a simple universal USB to SATA adapter is more than enough.
These have both IDE and SATA interfaces as well as an external power brick to to provide the power that desktop drives need. Most are able to support both 3.5" (desktop) and 2.5" (laptop) drives. USB 3.0 ensures fast data transfers.
I have this model in my desk right now: UNITEK USB 3.0 to IDE & SATA Converter
This one is not the cheapest, but at less than $30, it's very reasonable. I've bough cheaper and have had them fail within a short time. I've been using this one for about 3 years now so it's definitely worth it.
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Just found something similar in the UK UGREEN SATA IDE to USB 3.0 Adapter External Hard Drive Docking Station Enclosure Caddy Reader for 2.5/3.5” HDD SSD CD/DVD ROM CD-RW COMBO DVD-RW DVD-RAM with 12V2A Power Supply for Windows,MacOS,Linux amazon.co.uk/dp/B019MF0UC6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_a3xFCbHNR9382– DinisCommented Mar 4, 2019 at 19:39
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Awesome! The USB 3.0 (IMO) is the most important part. I had a 2.0 version and it was slow, slow slow! Commented Mar 4, 2019 at 19:41