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Can't get USB to IDE/SATA converter to work

S

Slickone

Diamond Member
I have one of these, that I can't get to show up in windows. I've tried setting the drive to master (per the directions) and cable select (per a suggestion). It will show up in Disk Management, but it doesn't have a drive letter, so I can't see it in Windows Explorer.
 
Well I think I did, but am not 100% sure, so I'll have to try that to make sure. I won't be able to until this weekend though.
 
Is this a new hard disk or one with stuff on?

If it's new, it wants formatting in disk management.

If it's meant to have stuff on, you're in less luck. Does the drive show a partition on it in disk management?
 
I've tried a couple different drives. They're used ones. I don't need to read them. I'm just trying to get this interface working. One shows as 1 full size partion. The other shows about half a dozen partitions. I have several other drives I could try, but haven't.
 
Not sure if this is your problem, but I've found that you generally want to hook these types of adapters up in a specific order.

1. First plug the HDD into the adapter.
2. Then plug the power into the HDD.
3. Let the combo sit for a few seconds.
4. Lastly, plug the combo into the USB on your computer.

There have been times when I didn't follow this order and the adapter actually corrupted and wiped my entire drive.
 
On the first try, I followed whatever order was given in the Chinglish, which I think is that, though it doesn't mention letting it sit (I did just a couple seconds or so). The 2nd time I may have reversed 1 and 2. Thanks for the warning!
 
Tried again and followed the steps fuzzybabybunny posted, and I'm able to read the drives, but when I try to delete files, it only deletes for a couple seconds or so, then hangs up. And then I can't access the drive. Any ideas what's causing that?

BTW, isn't this basically the same thing as an external drive, without the enclosure? Do external HDD's have this many problems?
 
Originally posted by: Slickone
BTW, isn't this basically the same thing as an external drive, without the enclosure? Do external HDD's have this many problems?
Click to expand...
I've found USB-to-SATA/IDE converters relatively painless. There have certainly been some defective units (or defective hardware or chip designs). And some drive/converter combinations just may not work. But in most cases, you just hook everything up and it works.

New disks will need to be initialized, partitioned, and formatted. All this can be done in the Disk Management control panel. Other than this step, you shouldn't be having problems.
 
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