Question 1

I have a 44 pin ide notebook drive that i want to make portable, will this item work?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will perfectly. That of course assumes your drive works. It is a neat install too. Easy, well designed. Feels cheap until you snap it back together. Read the instructions. Some folks don't use the parts and claim it isn't firm in place.

Enjoy!

Question 2

The USB port on a old external drive broke.  I need to get that data off will this enclosure make me reformat my drive once I put it in or will I be able to plug it in and go?

Accepted Answer

No, the enclosure will not make you reformat your HDD - you should be able to plug in and go. This is a simple 44-pin 2.5 inch enclosure.  There is no software/firmware in the device.  Please note, this is only for IDE HDDs.  There is no SATA HDD connection in the enclosure.  You did not say what kind of external HDD you had with the broken USB port?  You will need to be able to remove the HDD from the broken unit to use this enclosure.  If the external HDD is an integrated unit, like a Seagate, you may not be able to remove the HDD.  Hope this helps.

Question 3

Will this work with Windows 7?

Accepted Answer

I use it on a Windows 7 PC.  Since it connects to the PC via a regular USB 2.0 cable, I'd expect to work on just about ANY PC.

Question 4

Has anyone tried connecting internal DVD/CD drives to see if they work too? (I know they won't physically fit.)

Accepted Answer

Inside the case is a circuit board which has a 44-pin IDE socket physically connected to that circuit board.  Even if the 2.5" and 3.5" connectors where interchangeable, which they aren't (44 pins vs. 40, different spacing) the socket built in to the circuit board won't physically connect to a full-sized IDE drive.

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