Rosewill RCW-616 Laptop 2.5" to Desktop 3.5" IDE Hard Drive Adapter Converter

Pros: dose its job

Cons: wasn't free

Pros: Great tool to have on hand, once the problem explained below is resolved.

Cons: Bought 2, neither one worked, using a known good drive & cable. Metered them out, found 4 open pins on one, due to bad solder. Other one metered out ok, but still didn't work. After reviewing the IDE specs, determined that +5 volts is needed on pins 41 & 42, but due to a design flaw is only being provided on pin 42. Soldered a jumper from 41 to 42 on both adapters, as well as fixing the bad solder where needed, and now they both work.

Other Thoughts: Spoke to Rosewill tech support on 2/22/2013, giving them the details on this issue. Also noted same problem (based on feedback) with the Kinamax ADP-IDE23, also sold by Newegg. They probably both come from the same manufacturer (pictures are identical).

To summarize:
The bad solder joints are a quality control issue.
The pin 41-42 problem is a design issue.

NOTE: Some brands of 2.5" hard drives provide the pin 41-42 connection internally, and therefore would not see the problem. My only experience has been with Hitachi.

Pros: It does exactly what its supposed to do and has been for over a year.

Cons: None except maybe it's a little tight to get on so be careful not to bend any pins. After that though it's more of a pro since it wont slip off accidentally.

Other Thoughts: I took a laptop hard-drive out of an old Toshiba satellite that the motherboard went bad on and so I bought this adapter to stick it in an old dell gx240 that didn't have a hard drive anymore. Worked flawlessly from moment one.

Pros: Cheap

Cons: Doesn't

Other Thoughts: Got 2 of them, both don't work. For the price no point in sending back.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback. Our products are 100% satisfaction guaranteed, If you are not completely satisfied.
Please contact the Rosewill support team either by phone at 800-575-9885 or email us at rma@rosewill.com so we may further assist you

Thank you


Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: The primary purpose of this adapter is to use a 2.5" (laptop) IDE (not SATA) hard drive in a desktop/tower (3.5") case that also has IDE (not SATA).

It adapts the power and IDE cables so you can plug a 2.5" laptop hard drive into your desktop/tower computer.

Cons: You really have to know what you're doing with this adapter. If you're not sure how this works (now, before you've bought it) then it probably isn't going to work when you get it.

The pins aren't marked so you can easily install the adapter upside down, possibly damaging it or the drive. Worse, the 3.5" side has all 40 pins where almost every IDE cable has pin 20 filled in as a "key" to prevent you from installing the cable upside down. So you have to carefully remove the appropriate pin from this adapter to get your IDE cable to plug in. (Don't just bend it over or you could cause a short). If you remove the wrong pin, it will ruin the adapter. And if your IDE cable does not have the standard key pin then it's really easy to install the cable or the adapter backwards (upside down) which can lead to lots of frustration.

But if you know what you're doing this device will easily allow you to use 2.5" hard drives in your desktop/tower. It works and the price is great.

Other Thoughts: You might be wanting this to buy cheaper 2.5" drives to put in 3.5" bays. But remember, 2.5" drives are slower than 3.5" drives (5400rpm vs 7200rpm) so don't do this in your new Core i7 machine or you'll make it a slug.

If you've got an old XP tower you want to make live again with the leftover 2.5" drive from your busted laptop then this is what you need.

Don't forget to get a 2.5" to 3.5" drive mounting kit. Most drive bays in desktop/tower computers aren't made for mounting laptop hard drives.

Pros: No pros

Cons: I have always respected rosewill. But now I will never buy another product from them. I was so disappointed. Cheaply made and doesn't work. It's now laying out in my front yard in piece. Yeah it was only 2 dollars but I needed it very bad and I waited a week and then it didn't work. Never again rosewill

Other Thoughts: Stay away

Pros: Does just what it says. Solid and more dependable than my old adapter that the wires keep coming loose on.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: I did not look close at the picture. This is to connect a laptop drive to an IDE cable. I am using it to connect laptop drives to a USB adapter for testing and data transfer. The wires coming off the adapter were in the way of the body of the adapter. My fault for not looking. But a pliers and a some adjustments to the wires and it work fine.

Pros: Cheap
Gets the job done

Cons: It seems as though it's going to fall apart if you just slightly tug on it

Other Thoughts: It definitely gets the job done, and you get what you paid for.

Pros: None

Cons: Did Not Work cost too much to send it back, Took Drive to local shop only to tell me nothing wrong with the drive cost me $30.00

Other Thoughts: NEWEGG ROCKS!!!

Manufacturer Response:

Please contact the Rosewill support team either via phone at 800-575-9885 or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com so that we can assist you with your issue.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: None for this product. NewEgg rocks!! They handled my 'issue' with these devices in a very fair manner. I have been dealing with NewEgg for over 10 years now and I have found NewEgg to be eggselent (pun intended) when it comes to Customer Service.

Cons: Purchased 2 of these in order to run PATA laptop hard drives in a desktop PC with PATA interface. Neither one worked. It appears as if there was an issue getting power to the drive as I could NOT hear the drive spinning when connected to the desktop PC using this device. Also note that the plug which connects to the laptop hard drive did NOT seat properly.

Other Thoughts: I've used devices like this numerous times over the past several years, specifically to scan a laptop hard drive for viruses, using a desktop PC's PATA interface. I've had good luck with a similar product manufactured by StarTech.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
If you still need assistance with the RCW-616, please contact the Rosewill support team either via phone at 800-575-9885 or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com so that we can assist you with your issue.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care