Question 1

I don't want to clone a hard drive, I want to get data from it.  Computer crashed, bought new computer.  Old computer ran windows vista.  New one has windows 8.  I want to retrieve email, quicken, and other data files.  Can I do this using windows explorer?

Accepted Answer

If the crashed hard drive still has power and if it has just lost its Windows mind, then yes, this product will work for you. The crashed HDD from Vista will hook up easily to the SATA side and become a mass storage device to the Windows 8 PC via USB 2. Very simple to use. You'll know in a couple of minutes after connecting the Apricorn unit to the Windows 8 PC whether or not it will mount. If it doesn't mount as a separate drive letter in Windows Explorer you can look in Computer, Manage and look for the device in Disk Management to see if it shows up in there. Sometimes it won't mount if the drive letter it wants to use has a conflict, in which case you could assign your old drive a different drive letter. Another thing to try from there if it doesn't boot or mount is to run chkdsk on it and try it again. I think also running your favorite anti-malware program while it's in the Apricorn device is a wise first thing to do. That's in case malware is the root cause of the crash and so you don't propagate it to the new PC, just make sure you're running the program in admin mode in Win8 so you can remove anything it might find at the end of the scan. Other thoughts: The Apricorn unit works great for IDE drives and does a very nice clone job too with SATA and IDE. I got my rebate after a couple of months with no issues.

Question 2

What size hard drive does this adapter support, I.E 3TB, 4TB etc.?thanks!

Accepted Answer

I don't know for sure but I think it would support any size hard drive. The adapter is just allowing the hard drive to be attached to a computer via USB. The adapter itself shouldn't have any influence over the size of the hard drive attached. That should be determined by your operating system.

Question 3

Is this guaranteed to work on Windows 7?? Specifications tab says XP or 2000. I've had trouble with similar (Startech) adapters that did not work well in Windows 7 (drives would not mount on disk management tool). I appreciate your responses. Thanks!

Accepted Answer

I've used this on Win 7 and XP Pro to recover data from bad hard drives.  I first was introduced to this device while working in the Tech College student support area.  I then bought one for myself.

It's like plugging a jump drive into a USB port.  Open computer and watch which drive(s) appear.  You do need to use the external power cord.

The included software is for cloning, I looked at it but never actually used it.

Question 4

I know it doesn't say, but does this work with Windows 8 by chance?  I want to transfer some stuff from a XP HD to my Laptop that is windows8.

Accepted Answer

Hi Andy,
it works on my laptop running Win8 (64-bit version), all I had to do was plug in my old XP machine HDD to the ADW-USB-KIT and it detected it just like a flash drive. no software was needed or additional steps. (Note: when using an old PATA HDD you NEED to plug in the POWER directly to the HDD and NOT the ADW-USB-KIT or it will not work, the USB cable still connects as normally directed)

Question 5

Great Product, have used it for years.. I have seemed to have lost the power cord.. is there anywhere to order another one? or anywhere that may sale that type of power connector?

Accepted Answer

If you are referring to the whole power supply unit, it should be able to be replaced by the large 4-pin power connector that supplies power to DVD drives on any desktop power supply (12v + ground + ground + 5v) inside the computer.

If you are referring to the power cord that connects to the power supply for this device, you could use any standard power cord that plugs into the back of any desktop computer.

Question 6

UP to how many GB can it support the Hard drive?

Accepted Answer

Well, I am not so sure that size does not matter.

The questioner has a good point, in that sometimes the size DOES matter - the electronics of the adapter do not support a size above a certain point, for example.  The gentlemen mentioning acceptable usage on 500 gigs gives you a positive experience on that size - and my guess is that the electronics of the device are modern enough, that disks of 2,3, to 10 terabytes would probably be fine.  My own experience is with smaller disks of several hundred gigs.

Question 7

I have a Lenovo T430 laptop with a 320 gig hard drive.  I want to replace said hard drive with an SSD.  Will this work in the transfer of my OS to said SSD?

Accepted Answer

Having done this, I can tell you it is very easy to clone the drive.

Here is what you do.

Get this Apricorn adapter, or the 2.5" drive enclosure either one.
Install the software that it comes with on the old drive while it is still in the computer.
Attach the new drive to the Apricorn adapter.
Run the cloning software.
Swap the drives.   
You are done.   The new drive now looks like the old drive, only both now carry the Apricorn software.

Bonus:  you can now regularly make a clone of the SSD drive and, if you have a failure, just swap in the old drive.   I re-clone everytime I install new software, after I'm sure the new software is running.   (This does not replace doing data backups.)

Question 8

I bought this several years ago from NewEgg.  I currently have a Lenovo Thinkpad T430 running a SATA 320 gig hard drive with Windows 7 64 and want to transfer to a 500 gig SSD.  Does anyone know if a) this DriveWire will work and b) will  the old EZ Gig II Cloning software that came with it will do the job of transfer or do I need newer software?  If I need newer software does Apricorn offer it?  Thanks.

Accepted Answer

Yes it will. Here is the best way IF you have a second computer.
On the second computer:
Download the Macrium Reflect software free for personal use image software.
Remove the HD from the system you want to clone and connect using your drivewire.
Start the software and make an image of the drive, if you have partitions be sure to include them - you can change the partition size later.
Now connect your SSD and use the Reflect software to restore the image that you created to the new disk. Tell the software what size you want the partition/partitions to the size you want.
This process only takes me less than 30 minutes total.
Put your new SSD back in your system and boot up - you are good to go.

Question 9

What about bare metal upgrades?
I've had problems with Acronis when building a new/upgraded desktop PC.  
Built a new PC and wanted to transfer Win7 from old, small HD to new 1TB SATA.  Acronis consideres this to be theft of the OS because the MOBO and CPU were diffeent from old PC-Acronis tech support confirmed this to be true for consumer grade Acronis software! Only Acronis software sold to PC manufacturers allow a bare metal upgrade.
Other backup/imaging software allows this scenario but you must request "secret" add-on software from Acronis to do a bare metal upgrade.
SOOOO.... does anyone have experience using this device with the supplied Acronis software to transfer the OS to an new build?  
Key concept is Creating a Bootable, upgraded HD with installation into a new hardware machine?

Accepted Answer

I use the business version of Arcronis to make a drive image on DVDs or a server file then boot the new system with the Acronis boot disk and install onto the new PC. I also have to have the new hardware drivers ready to install as necessary.

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