3 Apprentice

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4.6K Posts

December 7th, 2008 11:00

Welcome to the forums :emotion-5:

 

 

It's certainly easy enough to tell you what you need.  You need a 2.5" IDE (sometimes called PATA) external hard drive enclosure.

Advising you where to look is not so easy however, for a couple of reasons:

 

1.  You haven't mentioned where you're from?

2.  There are literally 100's of places selling external enclosure, and my suggested vendor(s) might not sit well with everyone else, even though I don't necessarily have a personal preference... other than than trying to find the cheapest source :emotion-2:

 

That said... if you're in the USA, there's little doubt that Newegg are the most popular store - by quite a ways.

If you're in the UK, all the popular online computer stores sell suitable external enclosures - i.e. Ebuyer, Scan Computers, Micro Direct, Aria, CCL Computers, Overclockers UK (/the shortened version will find them too - namely OcUK), Misco, Oyyy (yes... that's 3x Y's), Specialtech, Tekheads etc etc etc.

But Amazon UK would be a good choice IMO, because they not only sell quite a good range of enclosures themselves, but there are many nice/good/cheap enclosures sold in their Marketplace as well.

 

Just pick one which you like the look of, and which fits your budget, and you're set.

Just be sure to double-check that it's a 2.5" IDE enclosure (Amazon have mistakenly added 3.5" enclosures in their listings there :emotion-43:), and the overall cost (i.e. including delivery), before making a final decision on which one to order :emotion-5:

There's no point in buying the cheapest enclosure for instance, if their delivery charge would result in it costing you more overall than many others :emotion-55:

 

Finally... I personally prefer all my external enclosures to be supplied complete with an AC adapter, but those are usually slightly more expensive, and a power supply is not a necessity for a 2.5" hard drive enclosure - since they can draw enough power through a USB port.

3 Posts

December 21st, 2008 19:00

Thank you very much for your detailed reply to my question. I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner but I left town (I'm aboard a boat in the remote Pacific Islands) the day after I posted my query and only returned yesterday.

I have good access to the USA so will cruise the internet and find myself one of those IDE enclosures you described.

Thanks again for the help!

10 Elder

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46K Posts

December 21st, 2008 20:00

toucansail     

Check out the 2.5" IDE enclosure HERE

Bev.

3 Apprentice

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4.6K Posts

December 22nd, 2008 09:00

This one would do the job just as well Bev, and it's only $8 :emotion-5:

10 Elder

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46K Posts

December 22nd, 2008 12:00

This one would do the job just as well Bev, and it's only $8 :emotion-5:

Great price.  :emotion-2:

Bev.

10 Elder

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46K Posts

December 22nd, 2008 18:00

toucansail

Pleased to have helped and wish you luck with the retrieving the data.

Bev.

3 Posts

December 22nd, 2008 18:00

Thanks again to TheRealFireblade and Bev for your info. I placed an order with Newegg for the Roswell model after reading a few bad reviews about the $8 unit. We'll see what happens. Hopefully I can get my data off the drive and then use it as a backup/alternate storage drive as a bonus.

2 Posts

March 27th, 2009 18:00

Hi.  I have the same problem as toucansail - a dead Inispiron 6000 and I need to get files off the hard drive.  But my machine came with a different hard drive.  It s an 80G 9.5 MM  Hitachi Moraga Plus (Dell part # D7377.)   Should I also be looking for a 2.5 inch IDE enclosure?  I have not been able to figure out if I need PATA/EIDE or SATA for this drive

Thanks for any insight anyone can provide,

Ed

10 Elder

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46K Posts

March 27th, 2009 19:00

eddie729

You could use THIS USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA Adapter, that is suitable for both IDE and SATA hard drives.

Bev.

 

10 Elder

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46K Posts

March 28th, 2009 17:00

Ed.

Happy to have helped.   :emotion-1:

Bev.

2 Posts

March 28th, 2009 17:00

Thanks for your help Bev.  That may just be the answer.  I think mine is also IDE but I haven't been able to find any verification


Ed

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