Plug-and-Play Old Hard Drives - No Enclosure Needed with NewerTech Adapter

by John Neely

Published on Feb 23, 2007 12:16 PM
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February 23, 2007 - NewerTech recently introduced their Universal Drive Adapter which allows old hard drives to be accessed without an enclosure.  The adapter is simply a cable with a USB connection at one end, and IDE/ATA/ATAPI 40 pin or Serial-ATA terminals at the other end.  Those terminals allow the adapter to interface with a wide range of 2.5", 3.5", or 5.25" hard drives or optical drives including those found in laptop and desktop computers.  For video editors, the NewerTech adapter offers an easy and cost-effective way to reuse old drives after removal from a failed or outdated computer. Using a USB 2.0 connection, the adapter allows for data transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps but can also be used with a slower USB 1.1 connection.

The USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter allows plug-and-play drive access for Mac OS 9.2 or higher, and is also compatible with Linux 2.4.X, or Windows 2000 or higher systems after installation of the included NewerTech driver.  In their press release, NewerTech notes that the adapter is useful for emergency hard drive access if a computer fails, and has been tested to work with drives made by major manufacturers including Maxtor, Seagate, IBM, Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital, Fujitsu, LG, Lite-On, Panasonic, Pioneer, Plextor, Sony, Teac, Toshiba, as well as removable media drives such as Iomega Zip.

While the adapter does offer the ability to access drives in an emergency, its value as an alternative approach to extending the life of old drives may be the most appealing application for videographers who work with large amounts of footage.  The MSRP of the NewerTech Universal Drive Adapter is $24.95, which is comparable to the price of a drive enclosure.  Unlike an enclosure, the NewerTech adapter can be unplugged from one drive and plugged into another with little effort offering potential workflow advantages for power-users who are accustomed to working with very large files.

The NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter is distributed by Other World Computing at www.newertech.com.