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HomeComputersSystem ComponentsPower SuppliesGeneric Power SuppliesCoolmax SATA and IDE-USB 2.0 Converter CD-350-COMBO (Black) |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 40 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Works like lead painted toys Jan 02, 2008
By The GPI
A reasonably smart person could be tricked into thinking this product works correctly when it actually corrupts data.
I've proven that this product has a defective design with a horrible defect. The defect was repeatable across 3 different hard drives and 3 different motherboards. I bought and tried two different units and both had the same problem.
I proved that the other hardware was not at fault since with this Coolmax device bypassed, that data corruption did not occur. See below.
Since I am using 3.5" IDE, I did not encounter the problem reported where the power from the power pack can conflict with the USB power from the motherboard. I read the prior reviews and was adequately warned not to use the product that way.
The product was recognized by all my motherboards and seemed to be working.
When I attempted to qualify this device by more thorough testing, I copied some large video files to a hard drive through the USB it provided and then read them back and compared them. In Windows XP, I compared the file read back using the Start > Run > cmd > fc /b original_file copy_file. This is the so called FC or "file compare" provide by Microsoft.
I found that about 1 byte per gigabyte gets randomly corrupted when read back through this interface product.
To verify that the problem was in the read back, I hooked up the drive directly to an IDE interface on the motherboard and there were no corrupt bytes in the files read back that way.
The read back data corruption could also explain why some people say the products random stops working if for instance a corrupted byte was read back from a file folder structure.
Since I tried two of these, it is proven to be a design or testing defect on the part of the manufacturer. If you're curious why this can occur, look up Metastability in electronics on wikipedia dot org. Metastable designs are bad designs.
It is possible to design products so they do not corrupt or "poison" computer data, just like it is possible to paint toys with non-poisonous paints.
Both lead paint and corrupt data tend to build up and eventually cause large problem. Either one could be eliminiated by imported or domestic sources so the country of origin is not an issue.
The rate at which corrupted data bytes occurs tends to conceal the defect much like the pretty color of the paint hides the lead.
No error in data is acceptable. Think of it this way. Your CPU may run at 3 gigahertz. At that rate this defective device produces three corrupted data bytes per second.
There tends to be some commonality in the chips used in these types of products between one vendor and other. Because of this, the same chip that causing the malfunction in the ones I tried could be in another similar product.
If I were to use any product like this with my computer, I'd do the qualifcation testing again.
A product that corrupts data at minute intervals is a horrible product that is a threat to our security and safety. It should be re-called and further sales halted.
I wrote an email to the tech support the vendor previously listed in other review replies. There was no response from them within a week of waiting so I gave up and wrote this review.
14 of 17 found the following review helpful:
BAD PRODUCT! Mar 25, 2007
By J. Wilhelm
"mr_electronics"
This product killed my USB ports, and before I knew what was going on, it killed 2 SATA disk drives. There is NO manufacture contact info in the brochure and there is NO product warranty of any kind mentioned in the brochure. BUY AND USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I'd give this product -10 stars if I could!
21 of 27 found the following review helpful:
WARNING: This is a dangerous product that will destroy your computer if used incorrectly Jun 21, 2008
By Michael J. Walker
"English Mike"
There is a fundamental design flaw that makes this adapter very dangerous to use with any computer equipment. It's far too easy to plug the power connector for the adapter in the wrong way round. Read on:
I bought this adapter to transfer files from an old laptop drive to my new system. The first time I used it, it worked fine. The second time I used it, it fried my brand new $900 laptop, my old laptop's drive (with all my data on it) and an SD card that was plugged into the laptop at the time.
What happened? After a while I figured it out. I had plugged the power connector from the power supply (with both 5v and 12v lines) into the Coolmax adapter the wrong way round.
User error? Sure, but it was a very easy mistake to make, and two appallingly bad design flaws in the adapter helped to destroy $1,000 worth of my equipment:
1) The four-pin power connector plugs in both ways round. You're not supposed to be able to do that. It's the same type of connector that plugs into old-style 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch drive power sockets, and has cutoff corners to supposedly prevent incorrect connection. However the plastic is so cheap that when I plugged it in the wrong way round, I didn't even feel any resistance as the connection was made. And so I accidentally fed +12V into the +5V line.
2) On it's own, that should not have been catastrophic. A well designed adapter would have either blown a fuse or reacted to the overvoltage in a way that, at most, just damaged the adapter. But no, the adapter fed that 12V line into my disk drive, blowing that, and fed it through the USB cable into my laptop and killed the computer stone dead as soon as I plugged it in.
So, I cannot emphasis strongly enough that you should not risk buying this product. One very simple mistake and you will almost certainly cause hundreds of dollars worth of damage to your computer equipment. Very few computers will survive 12V being fed in through their USB ports. It's just not worth the risk.
If you already own this adapter, the first thing you should do (after triple checking you've plugged in the power cable the correct way round) is to either tape or glue the power cable in place so you don't make the same mistake I did. Alternatively, there are plenty of other universal disk drive adapters on the market, and from what I've seen from pictures, at least some of them use a design that's much safer.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 A must for the PC toolkit Nov 18, 2008
By H. Manz
I was faced with recovering data from several PCs ruined by fire. The 3.5" IDE drives were no problem, but then I got to the 3.5" SATA and 2.5" laptop drives. I really didn't want to buy different adapters for each kind so this device was a great find. I have also started checking out the shelful of hard drives I have in my shop which I have always meant to get to one of these day. The day has arrived thanks to this device. No problems so far--I just plug in the device and my XP PC recognizes it. I had noted the problem with the potentially reversible power adapter connector written about by another reviewer. This is a fairly common problem when nylon connector shells are not used. I simply added a 6" power extension cable with nylon connectors on each end to make sure that I plug everything in correctly. The manual is in a form which is hard to print, but one is not really needed.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Fried My Mac! May 22, 2008
By D.S.
I purchased this item from Fry's for occasional use as I had an immediate need for an adaptor and didn't want to wait for a "brand name" product to arrive via mail order. Like many of the positive reviews here, the unit worked flawlessly for about a month.
However, the other day I plugged the device into the front port on my Mac Pro (the computer was on, but the adaptor was off, although plugged in), immediately heard a loud pop and I smelled something burning. Afterwords, the computer would not power on at all. The computer is currently at Apple awaiting a very expensive out of warranty repair; hopefully it simply blew out the front panel USB hub.
I have no doubt that the 5 star reviews are legitimate, when it works it works like a charm and the price is right. However, I've experienced this product failing first hand with disastrous consequences and I do not appear to be the only one. Avoid this product at all costs - there are other products from better brands that are only $10 more expensive.
See all 40 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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