User Reviews
By: Dan the man on 2020-02-09
I had 3 old drives from older computers my wife wanted me to try to get the kids pictures from them. This item works flawlessly retrieved all data from them with no problems. Do make sure if you have an old ide drive you set the pins to make it a slave drive and not master very happy with the purchase.
Dan
By: Rick on 2019-11-14
A little flimsy but does most of what I expected
By: Kenneth Smith on 2017-11-14
works perfectly!
By: latins on 2017-02-08
great product.works as expected.
By: Frank S. on 2017-02-01
Won't power my IDE drives.
By: Eden Le Bouton on 2016-12-14
The CoolGear worked just as well as I expected. Techies, impress the next person whose computer or laptop blue screens. Take the hard drive out, connect it to the CoolGear and to your computer and you will be able to retrieve files. I put the tiles on an external hard drive which worked as I expected also.
By: Eden Le Bouton on 2016-12-14
The CoolGear worked just as well as I expected. Techies, impress the next person whose computer or laptop blue screens. Take the hard drive out, connect it to the CoolGear and to your computer and you will be able to retrieve files. I put the tiles on an external hard drive which worked as I expected also.
By: Odiggy on 2016-11-15
A+ Transaction! Works just like my last one that got irreparably damaged.
By: Odiggy on 2016-11-15
A+ Transaction! Works just like my last one that got irreparably damaged.
By: J. Harrington on 2016-10-17
Performed as advertised. Well worth it.
By: J. Harrington on 2016-10-17
Performed as advertised. Well worth it.
By: Ray on 2016-01-14
Handy equipment to quickly search old hard drives for personal information.
By: Ray on 2016-01-14
Handy equipment to quickly search old hard drives for personal information.
By: codermjb on 2016-01-13
This is the best hard drive to USB device ever. It supports all the devices you need including the small 2.5 hard drives and 3.5 inch hard drives, IDE and SATA.
By: zenfulcoder on 2016-01-13
This is the best hard drive to USB device ever. It supports all the devices you need including the small 2.5 hard drives and 3.5 inch hard drives, IDE and SATA.
By: codermjb on 2016-01-13
This is the best hard drive to USB device ever. It supports all the devices you need including the small 2.5 hard drives and 3.5 inch hard drives, IDE and SATA.
By: Dale G. on 2015-11-10
Met all my expectations.
By: Dale G. on 2015-11-10
Met all my expectations.
By: Vichea on 2015-10-06
I don't have any comment yet.
By: Vichea on 2015-10-06
I don't have any comment yet.
By: Wayne Walsh on 2015-09-22
Bought it to recover data from some old drives...worked great!
By: Wayne Walsh on 2015-09-22
Bought it to recover data from some old drives...worked great!
By: okar LB on 2015-09-07
Really nice and practical. I have a couple other gadgets that do the same but now I only want to use this one.This was more expensive but well worth it. It can power a 2.5" drive using the USB cable alone. Very practical as you only need the AC adapter for bigger drives. Works with SSD as expected (older adapters don't) and has a nice look and feel.For the price I really wish it was USB 3.0 but I still prefer it over others.
By: okar LB on 2015-09-07
Really nice and practical. I have a couple other gadgets that do the same but now I only want to use this one.This was more expensive but well worth it. It can power a 2.5" drive using the USB cable alone. Very practical as you only need the AC adapter for bigger drives. Works with SSD as expected (older adapters don't) and has a nice look and feel.For the price I really wish it was USB 3.0 but I still prefer it over others.
By: Brad on 2015-09-07
The product met expectations and beyond. It is readily recognized by linux distros and windows. Recognized a variety of old hard drives I had laying around. One that I thought was dead based on a another external drive product was recognized by this one.
By: Brad on 2015-09-07
The product met expectations and beyond. It is readily recognized by linux distros and windows. Recognized a variety of old hard drives I had laying around. One that I thought was dead based on a another external drive product was recognized by this one.
By: Mr.C on 2015-08-23
Receive tool fast, was very happy with the was tool worked.
By: Mr.C on 2015-08-23
Receive tool fast, was very happy with the was tool worked.
By: Teresa Vazquez on 2015-07-10
Awesome
By: Teresa Vazquez on 2015-07-10
Awesome
By: Sandra Turner on 2015-07-07
Great product, fast delivery.
By: Sandra Turner on 2015-07-07
Great product, fast delivery.
By: wally on 2015-06-15
Worked good for a 3.5 ide. Quality isn't the greatest, but worked for what I needed it to
By: wally on 2015-06-15
Worked good for a 3.5 ide. Quality isn't the greatest, but worked for what I needed it to
By: Julie on 2015-05-27
These work great. I order them for work.
By: Julie on 2015-05-27
These work great. I order them for work.
By: Shorty on 2015-05-18
Top Notch!
By: Shorty on 2015-05-18
Top Notch!
By: twin0mega on 2015-05-05
Worked great for a long time!The cord you plug into the back to give it extra power to power up desktop 3.5 hard drives is a little stiff and eventually broke off at the power box. But I got a couple years worth of great use out of this. And still works perfectly with 2.5 laptop drives.Would buy again. Although the price seems to have gone up a lot.
By: twin0mega on 2015-05-05
Worked great for a long time!The cord you plug into the back to give it extra power to power up desktop 3.5 hard drives is a little stiff and eventually broke off at the power box. But I got a couple years worth of great use out of this. And still works perfectly with 2.5 laptop drives.Would buy again. Although the price seems to have gone up a lot.
By: Jaypee on 2015-04-30
Very useful.
By: Jaypee on 2015-04-30
Very useful.
By: golugo43 on 2015-03-09
Awesome! I can fix my family's computers and transfer all files securely.
By: golugo43 on 2015-03-09
Awesome! I can fix my family's computers and transfer all files securely.
By: Dom on 2015-01-01
works
By: Dom on 2015-01-01
works
By: Frank Nichols on 2014-12-11
It works
By: Frank Nichols on 2014-12-11
It works
By: Zuo Jin on 2014-10-01
GOOD
By: Zuo Jin on 2014-10-01
GOOD
By: Pedorra on 2014-09-24
does the job. easy to use
By: Pedorra on 2014-09-24
does the job. easy to use
By: Nasser A. on 2014-09-22
Item as described fast shipping
By: Nasser A. on 2014-09-22
Item as described fast shipping
By: Steelburgh on 2014-09-16
On time and works well but instructions on when to use power boost is not clear.
By: Steelburgh on 2014-09-16
On time and works well but instructions on when to use power boost is not clear.
By: BOB57 on 2014-09-08
did not work restoring my drive
By: BOB57 on 2014-09-08
did not work restoring my drive
By: Michael on 2014-09-03
Cool product. I have only used it once, but it worked right out of the box.
By: Michael on 2014-09-03
Cool product. I have only used it once, but it worked right out of the box.
By: S. Roberts on 2014-08-27
A true lifesaver for me!
By: S. Roberts on 2014-08-27
A true lifesaver for me!
By: AllanTico on 2014-08-19
It does the job, but definitely not as sturdy as it looks. The "metal" casing feels almost plastic. I wanted something more heavy duty than this because sometimes you have to run them in awkward places and at strange angles...I seriously have my doubts that this thing is going to last very long.UPDATE 10-23-2014:I've been using the device for SATA drives and it works as expected. Today I had to connect an IDE drive and the connector wouldn't even stay on. I had to prop it against my laptop to to keep it in place. I know IDE drives are going away, but as a computer tech I still get older machines and drives I need to fix. This was disappointing. I think this is the last time I get this brand.
By: AllanTico on 2014-08-19
It does the job, but definitely not as sturdy as it looks. The "metal" casing feels almost plastic. I wanted something more heavy duty than this because sometimes you have to run them in awkward places and at strange angles...I seriously have my doubts that this thing is going to last very long.UPDATE 10-23-2014:I've been using the device for SATA drives and it works as expected. Today I had to connect an IDE drive and the connector wouldn't even stay on. I had to prop it against my laptop to to keep it in place. I know IDE drives are going away, but as a computer tech I still get older machines and drives I need to fix. This was disappointing. I think this is the last time I get this brand.
By: PRB on 2014-07-10
I decommissioned seven old PCs and wanted to make sure the drives were erased. I used the CoolGear® SATA and IDE Hard Drive & Optical Drive USB Adapter Kit COMBO: Limited Edition Pro Series Aluminum Shell to connect each old drive to my current system and copied all the relevant old data from the old drive to my current drive; the system sees the CoolGear and old drive as a USB drive. Then I used some free software (DiskWipe) to erase the old drive - it takes a while, but you just start the erase function running and let it go. Some old 40gb drives took an hour or so - I ran several passes of erasure. The bigger ones (180gb, 300gb) to several hours.My Windows 7 system had trouble identifying a couple of old Western Digital drives (in fact, it did not "see" the CoolGear and the old drive in MyComputer at all). To resolve this, I searched for "Partition" in the Control Panel and the drive was visible there. I had to select the options to make the drive accessible, etc. From that point on I was able to access the data on the drive to copy it off, and then use DiskWipe to erase the drive.The "plugin" connection that you use to connect the CoolGear device to the back of the old drive is a little flimsy, but once you get it securely plugged in it works fine. These were all 3.5" drives. I still have a couple of old 2.5" laptop drives to erase, but I'm not expecting any issues with it. I did keep an old 300gb drive to use with the CoolGear device as a backup for my current system.One other note: I had trouble removing one of the old drives from the computer case, so I just plugged the CoolGear into the drive as it sat in the old computer and the CoolGear connection worked fine.A very handy and easy to use device.
By: PRB on 2014-07-10
I decommissioned seven old PCs and wanted to make sure the drives were erased. I used the CoolGear® SATA and IDE Hard Drive & Optical Drive USB Adapter Kit COMBO: Limited Edition Pro Series Aluminum Shell to connect each old drive to my current system and copied all the relevant old data from the old drive to my current drive; the system sees the CoolGear and old drive as a USB drive. Then I used some free software (DiskWipe) to erase the old drive - it takes a while, but you just start the erase function running and let it go. Some old 40gb drives took an hour or so - I ran several passes of erasure. The bigger ones (180gb, 300gb) to several hours.My Windows 7 system had trouble identifying a couple of old Western Digital drives (in fact, it did not "see" the CoolGear and the old drive in MyComputer at all). To resolve this, I searched for "Partition" in the Control Panel and the drive was visible there. I had to select the options to make the drive accessible, etc. From that point on I was able to access the data on the drive to copy it off, and then use DiskWipe to erase the drive.The "plugin" connection that you use to connect the CoolGear device to the back of the old drive is a little flimsy, but once you get it securely plugged in it works fine. These were all 3.5" drives. I still have a couple of old 2.5" laptop drives to erase, but I'm not expecting any issues with it. I did keep an old 300gb drive to use with the CoolGear device as a backup for my current system.One other note: I had trouble removing one of the old drives from the computer case, so I just plugged the CoolGear into the drive as it sat in the old computer and the CoolGear connection worked fine.A very handy and easy to use device.
By: Twog Ami on 2014-05-04
I needed to access data from a hard drive (formatted NTFS) from a Linux system and this did the trick with no problems. This is worth the cost and has met every need as advertised.
By: Twog Ami on 2014-05-04
I needed to access data from a hard drive (formatted NTFS) from a Linux system and this did the trick with no problems. This is worth the cost and has met every need as advertised.
By: Loren on 2014-03-22
While decommissioning old PCs, we had a fight with clearing information from the hard drive, often on non working computers. This devise allows you to power up a hard drive out of the case by way of a USB connection. I have been using a Ubuntu PC which allows me to access a hard drive even with a Windows virus without bothering my service PC. Using Gparted I can break down the partitions to a single empty drive and format it into an Ext4 drive. Our virus wizard uses it to shake out stubborn infestations and malware with the hard drive running out of it's case as an extra drive location on his bench PC. Since i resurrect older PCs this is a great way to test a hard drive or optical drive for reuse. Laptop, desk top, IDE or SATA, everything that I have tried has worked with this adapter.
By: john21710 on 2014-01-27
I've been using this for years, the old black one and this silver one - they work perfectly on any HD, just DON'T use the RED USB.
By: jaz on 2014-01-16
This tool save my files! My computer crashed and I was so bummed because I thought all my files were gone. Well, wrong... I was able to disconnect the hard driver from the computer, connect it to this thing, and transfer the files onto another computer. I was so happy.
By: Dave on 2013-07-04
This is a great inexpensive alternative for those who want an external Hard drive or an extra CD/DVD drive for their computer systems
By: Claggett's Bengals on 2013-05-30
I had a few old IDE HDD's around from old computers and I wanted to recover photos I was sure was on them. This CoolGear design gets the job done. Quality power supply, comes with all needed cables. Reading the old IDE HDD's was a breeze, I even looked at some old floppy disc's, how nostalgic. Thia can be used as a poor mans backup device if you have a old drive laying around. The included CD has a basic backup program. Normally offshore devices do not have the best manuals, this is the exception, it's very well written and well illustrated. My second product from CoolGear and I'm very pleased.
By: doglick on 2013-02-25
I don't use it often but I help friends with their computer problems and this allows me to plug any IDE device into my laptop. I used it to pull data off HardDrives that no longer boot as a primary device. So far, it has worked flawlessly.Very useful for the technical minded.
By: RM on 2012-11-09
I have a Western Digital My-Book which had the power socket break off and I didn't want to fork over the amount that the repair tech wanted to take care of it. So I did some research, took the hard drive casing apart, and discovered that I could use a product like this as an alternate power source.Upon receipt of the product, I took it out of the case and was able to instantly tell how to hook it up. Within seconds, my computer recognized it and I was able to retrieve my files. Thanks for the life-line!This product is worth the money. I also learned that my "back-up" is not always the most reliable means to back up data
By: Wayne on 2012-04-19
Excellent product. Easy to use and a big time saver. Was able to retrieve data off a hard drive that sat for quite some time. Thanks.
By: Bob P. on 2011-12-28
I bought this to hook up my corrupt laptop drive from an HP laptop, vintage 2005, and retrieve the data. It worked flawlessly to connect the 2.5" IDE drive, and there was no need to "slave" the drive or even install the supplied USB drivers (running Windows XP sp3). At first glance, it appeared to be impossible to connect my HP laptop 2.5" HDD to this adapter, but I did speak with tech support who was very helpful. He explained that I must first remove HP's proprietary socket mounted on the HDD which masks the pins, as well as to remove the mounting plate which partially covers the pins on the little HDD in order to get the adapter's plug to fit. The documentation makes no mention of this, and is somewhat sketchy overall. However, it did the job and in the end I was very pleased with the adapter and with this vendor. It is well-made and has nice long USB and power cables to boot.
By: S. Oliver on 2011-10-05
This product will allow you to connect up a HD to a computer and let it act like an axternal. I use this to run virus and Malware programs when the HD is not able to run it by itself.Plus with the new on/off switch i can just power it up or down without wondering about hurting the HD.
By: bosssho on 2011-03-27
I had two PCs die in the same weekend from a massive power surge...went right through two Surge Protectors...anyway, got this product and within a few hours all the info I wanted off the old HDD's was transfered to a new PC and/or USB External HDD...Awesome tool for disaster recover, and you can't beat the price.
By: Ken W on 2011-03-17
The adapter works great for getting your information off a laptops hard drive. When the laptop won't start up. Just plug the hard drive into the adapter and the adapter into the usb of a another computer.