Rosewill RC-204 IDE to SATA Mini Vertical Bridge (for IDE device)

Pros: I purchased this so I could use my old IDE drive from a computer that had a dead MB. I kept the drive's jumpers setting on "Master" and installed it without any other changes and windows 7 installed it immediately. I am currently using it to run windows 7 on my HTPC build without a single issue.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Make sure you read and follow the directions. If you do this you should not have an issue.

Pros: Easy to use compact design.

Cons: Sensitive to power supply.

Other Thoughts: I built a new system which only had SATA connectors, but I only had a PATA DVD drive, so I purchased this adaptor instead of a new drive.

First issue was that the documentation is not clear that the drive has to be in master mode. The adaptor won't see the drive if it is in slave mode.

Second issue was that it was only intermittently seeing the drive. I would reboot and it would be there for a few seconds, and disappear. I found, if I removed some other devices form the power supply, or plugged the device into its own cable then the adaptor was able to see the DVD drive.

I was able to get the system built, but still the DVD drive disappears when the system wakes from standby and I have to reboot to get the drive back.

It may be that my PSU has issues such as noise or low voltage, but everything else works perfectly, so the adaptor should not be so sensitive. I can't recommend it based on my experiences with it so far.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit.
We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

Please kindly contact the Rosewill support team
Phone: 1- 800-575-9885
Email: rma@rosewill.com

So we may assist you with (in-warranty) replacement.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Allows connecting legacy drives to current systems

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: does not fully provide the bandwidth its two interfaces would allow.

Pros: Easy connection, required hardware included.

Cons: Instruction manual was sparse. Jumper settings were not explained. English translation was crude and sloppy. Fortunately, no jumper settings needed to be changed.

Other Thoughts: Remember to connect the attachment to both the drive and the board.

Pros: pretty red color :)

Cons: Doesn't function. dead. DOA.

Other Thoughts: Isn't anything tested anymore?
I'm tired of buying dead stuff here.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you very much for purchasing this unit. We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

Please contact us or provide more information regarding your hardware confirugation to better assist you.

Please provide the following
1. Hardware connected to this device
2. PC specs
3. cable connections between the hardware and PC.

Feel free to contact the Rosewill Customer Support team for further assistance at 1-800-575-9885 Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM PST or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com

Pros: I went through all the reviews here with the search term jumper. Most were irrelevant. There was a brilliant one, though, that mentioned raid settings in the BIOS. That was the key for me. I set my SATA settings in BIOS to IDE mode (motherboard: MSI B75A-G43) and I finally got it to work.

My motherboard had three settings for the SATA ports: disabled, IDE mode, and AHCI mode. I enabled my SATA port in AHCI mode and then switched to IDE mode. After that it worked like a charm.

Note that it would recognize the drive in AHCI mode, but not boot from it. That was the confusing bit.

Cons: They should provide better documentation with this device and specifically mention to check your SATA/raid settings.

Pros: small, fits nicely in place and holds snug

Cons: i tried this on both a hard drive and an DVD drive. won't work. everything is plugged in the drives get power. i can fell the HDD spinning and the dvd opens and closes. i tried all the jumper setting on both. the OS (windows 7) sees them in the device manager but gives me a yellow tag saying it can't find the drivers. so i'm out of guesses.

buyer beware from what some people have said some work, some don't, or they have done some tweaking.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Please check the following
1. Remove J2 jumper and test again
2. Ensure all connections are properly seated.

Feel free to contact the Rosewill Customer Support team for further assistance at 1-800-575-9885 Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM PST or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com

Pros: It plugged right in and worked right off the bat.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I was expecting to have some trouble with it due to the reviews I read prior to ordering but I figured on sale being $6 with free shipping, I'd give it a shot. It worked great for me and even sped the data transfer up by a bit.

Pros: Worked wiith no issues on a hard drive. Make sure the jumper in on Slave and the adapater jumper is on also

Cons: Could not get it to work with an older DVD-RW drive. Tried all combinations of jumpers on the drive and card. Purchased a Vantec bridge and it worked on the DVD drive.

Pros: None

Cons: Don't work

Other Thoughts: I bought two of these for my farther in law and neither one worked. We tried different mother boards and the same results. The down side is that the return shipping makes it not worth returning. I would advise not to purchase this product.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Please check the following
1. Remove J2 jumper and test again
2. Ensure all connections are properly seated.

Feel free to contact the Rosewill Customer Support team for further assistance at 1-800-575-9885 Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM PST or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com