Sanoxy A12940 Sata/Pata/ide Review
Do you know all those SATA or PATA hard drives lying around the house? With the increasing popularity that solid state drives (or SSDs) got during the last years, the old technology got left behind. However, the regular hard drives can still be useful, especially when all you need is storage space.
The great feature promoted by the Sanoxy A12940 computer accessory is the fact that you can use these basically internal drives as external ones. So you won’t have to open your computer or laptop case every time you need something stored on a SATA or IDE hard drive. This is our SANOXY A12940 Review.
What you get in the package
Before we discuss more technical details, let’s see what you’ll actually get in the box. The cable is delivered with everything you need to make the connection between a SATA or an IDE to a USB 2.0 port. Thus, you’ll receive:
- USB to IDE / SATA cable adapter
- SATA data cable (one end goes into the drive while the other goes in the adapter)
- AC adapter and one AC to IDE power converter
- IDE to SATA power cable
*The AC adapter for IDE has a standard 12vdc plug at the end while the SATA power adapter ends in a pigtail.
All these are necessary since both ATA and SATA drives need an external power source to work.
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How does it work?
The cable is designed to work with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 standards, but considering the fact that USB 1.1 ports are obsolete for modern devices, it is best recommended for 2.0 ports. You will get about 480 MB/s which is a good transfer rate for SATA or PATA hard drives.
The Sanoxy A12940 cable adapter can be coupled with laptop hard drives (2.5” IDE), computer drives (3.5” IDE) and a wide range of optical units (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, combos, and even plug-n-play). Even more, the power adapter can be used worldwide with an input voltage ranging between 100v and 240v.
And finally, the adapter is compatible with Windows versions above Windows ME and MAC OS so you can use it on almost any desktop device.
SANOXY A12940 Review & Opinions
First of all, you should know that the price is extremely affordable when you compare the Sanoxy adapter to other similar products on the market. It is also pretty easy to use and you don’t need an entire user manual to figure which cable goes where. However, in our SANOXY A12940 Review, we didn’t really like the length of the USB cable (it’s a bit too short), but with a bit of imagination you can move past this.
The adapter is extremely useful in reviving all those old hard drives you considered to be obsolete, but you must be careful of faulty ones. There are users who complained about power problems, but the issue may be connected to the drive and not the cable. You must check the jacks and all the pins for corrosion and you must avoid using the cable in a highly humid environment. At the end of the day, the unit is quite great and offers a nice use for the Gigs of RAM memory just standing on you shelf.
