I ran across this on the web and thought it sounded interesting.
It's a SATA and/or IDE to USB adapter. Looked nifty, so I ordered it.



Now everybody may already have one, but I didn't.
If you don't, they're only about $20. They let you connect an IDE or SATA drive (CD, DVD, hard drive) to a USB port.
When I got it in, after I figured out how to use it (the included instructions were terrible...whoever wrote it had almost no grasp of the English language) it's fairly easy. Just playing with it, I hooked up an old IDE HD to the USB port of my shop PC, it detected it, and I was able to format it.
Just thought it would be handy for checking out drives and doing some file transfers.
I might get $20 worth of good out of it.

I bet it would allow one to scan the HD of another computer and copy and paste it on a separate USB device rather than copy to the desktop. Rob

Yes, its a great device. You can quickly make any hard drive an external hard drive. I also use it to make CD rom's external when need be. Great for recovery and file back ups before repairing a computer.

Every Computer Repair Tech should have one. Or in my case 3. One for home. One for the car and One for my shop.

brilliant idea.

anyone know where to get them in uk

Popeye, the only thing that comes to mind is to check eBay UK. Is there an Amazon UK?

Did I miss something Busdriver? Like where you got this item and who makes it. And what is it actually called. Can't really read anything on the picture. A few details please.

Did I miss something Busdriver? Like where you got this item and who makes it. And what is it actually called. Can't really read anything on the picture. A few details please.

Nope. You're just gonna have to get your nose real close to your monitor and squint.

Actually I got this doo-hicky from here
Sunbeam SATA IDE to USB Adapter at Xoxide!

It's just called SATA IDE to USB adapter. As far as who makes it, it says Sunbeam on it, but it's probably made in China. (That would explain the poor attempt at English instructions.)

seen a few on ebay seem like copies wasnt too sure of quality but then again suppose theres not an awfull lot to go wrong with them and their cheaper.

sunbeamtech are the ones who make perspex cases, hsf and fans,

Well, I just purchased one of these and just waiting for its delivery and immediately try it out. Rob

There are several different companies that make these things. All 3 of mine are from different companies because I wanted to test the different ones. I can't really tell one from another.

Any place that sells computer supplies should sell these things. In the us you can get them at newegg, tigerdirect, local computer shops, and many other places.

Not sure about the UK.