PATA HDD question

[Math Geek]

Ok time for the old timers to dust off the old knowledge and see if you can help me here. I have a 2.5 inch PATA hdd that came out of an old HP laptop. The laptop is completely dead and thus will not access the drive for me. I would like to back up the data on it and transfer it to another system for a friend of mine. Problem is I do not have anything that will connect it to my pc. I don't remember there being a "mini" PATA connection for the 2.5 inch laptop drives but this drive has a connection that I don't recall ever using. It is a lot smaller than the normal PATA connection. It is about the size of the floppy ribbon connector but the pins don't line up. Is there a cable that will let me connect it to my pc's normal PATA slot? Some kind of convertor? Somehow I doubt it.

So I figure I will finally take the plunge and buy one of those nice USB devices that let's you connect all these drives to it without opening the case (I connect drives to a system for this purpose 4-5 times a week) and hassling with cables and such. I see a lot of them online to get but have no experience with them. Does anyone have any experience with these devices and can recommend one that will do it's job. I need to be able to connect both ide (apparently 2 types of PATA) and sata drives as I work with both regularly. I see some for around $10 and some for over $50. I assume the $10 ones are junk and the reviews seem to support this assumption.

Anyone have any experience here using these devices? Please don't guess, i am looking for real world experience here. I can read a bunch of reviews myself and then pick one but I'm hoping for some solid "I have this one and it rocks" or "This one is junk so avoid it" type ideas.

Thanks

 

[mcnumpty23]

sounds like a standard ide connection for the older 2.5 drives--though a photo would help

i have one of these things for that kind of stuff--not fantastic build quality--but it works

does ide 2.5 and 3.5 plus sata

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/All-In-1-2-5-3-5-IDE-SATA-HDD-Hard-Drive-Disk-Clone-Holder-Dock-Docking-Station/351214696175?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3D7b1722115ac54d5687f6bd274fe6baac%26pid%3D100204%26prg%3D20140407115239%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D251501924817

 

[Math Geek]

finally found the manual and it says this is standard ide. i just don't recall ever seeing a different connection for 2.5" it is a seagate model ST9808210A. (for some reason i did not look the model up before asking. such a noob error i know).

a lot of reviews i am reading keep saying ide drives are not recognized. this is a problem i don't want to mess with. so long as it let's me access the data, then i'm ok with whatever it costs. i will use it enough that durability and reliability are top of the priority list.

 

[Alabalcho]

Something like this is quite universal - you can use for both 2.5/3.5 PATA, and for any SATA drive. Some of these adapters come with external brick-sized power supply - comes handy connecting 3.5" disks and CD/DVD drives.

 

[mms9k47bsdh]

look at this 2 urls that will solve your problem if you have done it yet

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0U014P5146&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Hubs-_-9SIA0U014P5146&ds_e_ad_type=pla&gclid=CLaL6pWPhcMCFQET7AodeWkAiQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

http://www.addonics.com/products/aa25ide35.php