Question 1

Does this system provide a power source/cable for IDE drives?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does.  It's a separate small power "brick", which you can see a picture of if you click the ". . ." icon on the web page to look at the rest of the photos...

Question 2

Does it support windows 8?

Accepted Answer

I do not have a copy of Widows 8. I would expect this item to work just fine with Windows 8. Microsoft did not make as large of change from Win 7 to Win 8, as they had with XP to Win 7.

Question 3

Will this read ide laptop harddrives?

Accepted Answer

Is the RCW-618 just an upgrade to the RCW-608 to now support Windows 7?

Question 4

Can this adapter be used with a 3.5" "floppy" drive?

Accepted Answer

3.5" floppy is not IDE or SATA. So, no. If you want to read diskettes, your best bet is a USB floppy drive. You can find them on new egg for $15.

Question 5

I have owned previous brands that look the same and have had successful compatibility with Mac. Would this one work with a Mac by any chance?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we have used ours with Macs many times with no issues.  Mounts just like any other external hard drive.

Question 6

This can be used with my old laptops hard drive inside of it, and then remain a separate but accessible OS. So my new ubuntu OS on a 2GB notebook computer can remain true to it's function, and then boot 1 program file saved on that ubuntu OS and then access this drive from my old XP OS laptop?

Accepted Answer

If you can format the drive to do what you want then yes this will work for you. Its simply a plug interface to access a HDD whether it be Sata or ide. You say "inside of it" a little cryptic to my eyes. This unit is just a plug, not an enclosure. Or if you mean leave the drive in the old lappy and run it then yes as long as you can get the plugs into it. I have a 2.5 Drive with win7 loaded on it that I can boot to via the USB so I can screw with the main drive in the machines without taking them apart.

Questions & Answers