Laptop. USB to SATA Cable. Problem.

BennettWHU · 1 Feb 2015 at 13:44

I've got a few 500GB 3.5" desktop HDD's that I need to access so I can re-format them. A few came from old SKY Digital boxes (not illegal. I owned the boxes) and others from friends who gave them to me in order to use in my up coming system. My problem is, I've only got a laptop at the moment and a USB to SATA cable which is supposed to connect these HDD's to my laptop in order to let me access them. The 2.5" HDD's power up fine and I can access them as expected. The 3.5" HDD's won't even power on. There is no sound from inside the HDD's. Can anyone explain or help me figure out the problem?

nutcase · 1 Feb 2015 at 15:57

Think 3.5" need separate power supply?

BennettWHU · 1 Feb 2015 at 16:08

So there is no way to access them without a desktop PC or a separate power supply?

Sasahara · 1 Feb 2015 at 16:41

YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa Flexstor Disklink, USB 3.0 Adapter for SATA HDD and SSD. Suitable for 2.5" & 3.5" Drives, Power Adapter Included. (AK-AU3-01BKCM) £18.98
Total : £21.26 (includes shipping : £1.90).

I'd ignore the 1 star rating as it's relating to non standard use that it was never intended to be used for.

BennettWHU · 1 Feb 2015 at 16:51

Sasahara said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa Flexstor Disklink, USB 3.0 Adapter for SATA HDD and SSD. Suitable for 2.5" & 3.5" Drives, Power Adapter Included. (AK-AU3-01BKCM) £18.98
Total : £21.26 (includes shipping : £1.90).

I'd ignore the 1 star rating as it's relating to non standard use that it was never intended to be used for.

Isn't there some sort of 'dock' which I can plug the HDD into? Something which plugs in at the wall to power the dock and the HDD's and then plugs into my laptop via USB for data recovery?

Sasahara · 1 Feb 2015 at 16:58

BennettWHU said:
Isn't there some sort of 'dock' which I can plug the HDD into? Something which plugs in at the wall to power the dock and the HDD's and then plugs into my laptop via USB for data recovery?

That is one.

If you must have an upright one it will just cost more. The cheap one is out of stock.

YOUR BASKET
1 x IcyBox 2-Bay Docking and Clone Station for 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD USB 3.0 (IB-120CL-U3) £39.98
1 x IcyBox 2 Bay Docking Station For 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD With JBOD Function USB 3.0 (IB-120StU3-Wh) £36.98
1 x IcyBox USB 3.0 Docking Station for 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD (IB-116StU3-B) £19.99
Total : £106.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

BennettWHU · 1 Feb 2015 at 17:15

Considering I plan to sell these HDD's after I re-format them, I don't want to spend too much money on them.

leezer3 · 2 Feb 2015 at 01:59

Sky Box HDDs are unlikely to work in a standard PC unless you are willing to start hacking with the firmware.
I don't remember the details off the top of my head, but they use some sort of locking technology.

Sticking it into Google should get you some results.

-Leezer-

spoffle · 2 Feb 2015 at 02:19

Sasahara said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa Flexstor Disklink, USB 3.0 Adapter for SATA HDD and SSD. Suitable for 2.5" & 3.5" Drives, Power Adapter Included. (AK-AU3-01BKCM) £18.98
Total : £21.26 (includes shipping : £1.90).

I'd ignore the 1 star rating as it's relating to non standard use that it was never intended to be used for.

Well the one star rating shows that OcUK have stopped vetting the reviews.

I think a dock one would be more appropriate though. They're a bit neater, they'll have the larger USB 3 B connector, which is more robust than micro USB 3.0 and they will hold the drive securely.

Like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-096-BT&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=1670

spoffle · 2 Feb 2015 at 02:22

Sasahara said:
That is one.

If you must have an upright one it will just cost more. The cheap one is out of stock.

YOUR BASKET
1 x IcyBox 2-Bay Docking and Clone Station for 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD USB 3.0 (IB-120CL-U3) £39.98
1 x IcyBox 2 Bay Docking Station For 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD With JBOD Function USB 3.0 (IB-120StU3-Wh) £36.98
1 x IcyBox USB 3.0 Docking Station for 2.5" 3.5" SATA HDD (IB-116StU3-B) £19.99
Total : £106.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

You can get the cheap one elsewhere though.

dneill2006 · 2 Feb 2015 at 06:52

leezer3 said:
Sky Box HDDs are unlikely to work in a standard PC unless you are willing to start hacking with the firmware.
I don't remember the details off the top of my head, but they use some sort of locking technology.

Sticking it into Google should get you some results.

-Leezer-

Pulled a few recently and all I did was run diskpart to clear the partition table and re-format, works like any other HDD.

nutcase · 2 Feb 2015 at 08:30

leezer3 said:
Sky Box HDDs are unlikely to work in a standard PC unless you are willing to start hacking with the firmware.
I don't remember the details off the top of my head, but they use some sort of locking technology.

Sticking it into Google should get you some results.

-Leezer-

The older ATA ones worked fine, some of the recorded TV even worked. Don't know about the newer boxes.

BennettWHU · 2 Feb 2015 at 18:21

Anyone recommend a safe way to dispose of HDD's?