A while back a friend showed me some USB based thing that you can plug both 3.5" and 2.5" hard drieve into for various storage / swapping purposes. Having looked at the price of drives (locally) for more backup storage, its now looking like a viable option / alternative to me (you may remember a prior thread on this).

BUT...

Can't remember the name of the damned thing - it was basically a USB plug and at the other end the connection for the drives, so USB powered as well. (far as I can tell a simple USB powered "converter" / data cable really)

The other thing I want to know is - exactly how safe would it be to use - I mean... everything is pretty exposed

*covers chimp-nipples and shrieks!

Oh, and is there a good (similarly cheap) alternative to this kinda thing - last I remember the piece of equipment was about £30 and free postage (as it was a UK company - so also covered by all trade / consumer laws on stuff).

Probably being vague on this - but its because of that I need to know! O____o

Edit: so Chad... I'm not gonna attempt to type the rest of your name after wine - sorry bud - has linked here the exact thing I was on about: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/looking_for_the_name_of_advice_on_a_doohickey/post3
- for me that looks handy and portable (MASSIVE PLUS!) - but what are the other benefits or negatives weighed against the docking stations posted by Tarfu?!

Take a look at this:

http://www.startech.com/uk/HDD/Docking/

This what you mean?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812196455&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-USB+Converters-_-N82E16812196455&gclid=CNq5jM_RhMkCFUsWHwod7eEIqw&gclsrc=aw.ds


Or this one...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276554&CatId=11753

They're good for a pinch, but for more permanent usage, you might want to go with a drive enclosure or a docking station as TARFU suggested. They are safe to use, so long as no static discharge happens near the naked hard drive.

Exactly that kind of thing, yes - so part one has been solved! :D ...and that is the other kind of thing, but not specifically what I was asking about (will need more info on these as well! TA!)

I don't know but that sounds... freakin' awesome actually!

I thought I'd seen one of these a long time ago (and actually thought it was possible to make one!) but when I was looking for something similar recently all I saw was the MUCH more extensive "harness" - but what you're describing sounds more like the thing that I may or may not have imagined many moons ago.

The harness is a larger, more intrusive piece of hardware where what you describe (and I vaguely remember) is literally much more of a low profile, very small dongle that does the trick - little more than a cord with a USB on one end and a set of hard drive pins / power adapter on the other.

Yeah, I thought these were really cool too. Almost like a Swiss-Army knife of drive adapters. If I really had a use for hot-swapping or a computer repair business/service, I would definitely have this one handy in my toolbox.

See post #3 :D exactly one of my concerns - though essentially, as long as I used it in a controlled environment, was careful (and not using it daily either for instance - along maybe with one of those static wristband thingies... might be not bad for longer term storage like a monthly backup of essential files - in my case IP stuff).

Yup that looks like it! Neat, good to know! I recently almost had a near-panic inducing data loss (that ended up fully recovered!) and I thought of "one of those" - but luckily didn't need to go that route - or even pull the HD and stick it in another computer - which was nice.

I actually had the worst of that scenario earlier this year - and this is when I got introduced to the doohickey!

I have used this for a few years now: http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/586

Er, had the USB 2.0 version before. Works like a champ, pulling files off 20+ year-old drives. It does have an external power adapter however, instead of powering the drive off USB. Guessing that might be in order to supply enough power for old hard drives that likely need more juice.

its not there for fast transfer - just backup, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups, of backups and so on!

...also maybe helping out the odd friend or two if another component in their laptop etc blows but the drive is fine (seen so many binned laptops with otherwise fine main components because the fan or the power unit went)

You've obviously got exactly what you want, but you might also, depending on use case, consider getting a USB-connected Network Attached Storage (NAS) frame. If you realistically expect your data needs to outgrow a pair of hard drives, they're great. They allow you to use a JBOD or RAID setup, and you can add in additional hard drives as the situation demands. It's not a replacement for a forensic-style setup to recover data, but if you're not looking for recovery as much as safe storage, a NAS frame is a good buy. I use one for my excess data that I don't want on my main drive. They're quite safe physically and logically, and usually you can find a reliable one on sale for under a hundred bucks.

Of course, if you've never used RAID and don't know what you're getting yourself into, it can be a bit of an eye opener the first time your controller fails XD

I think that might be the actual one I was shown! :D - and yes, I suppose the power supply would really be a bonus as well - though if it could work without for smaller / newer drives, even more bonus! Either way... I'm bloody happy now, and seeing the prices of some of these... even feasible to get one and a spare drive as an xmas pressie!
foxworks mentioned this the other night... have an idea of what it is, but beyond that...

I happen to have it with me at the hotel - it sits in the bottom of my laptop bag, in case I need it while working on an old machine. I goofed - mine is the 2.0 version, not 3.0. Why did I get 2.0? Uhhh... dunno. Comes with all of the stuff in the photo.

For an IDE drive you plug it in directly to the drive. For SATA, use the red cable and also the power cable adapter. Power brick has a power switch on its cable. Shows up as any other hard drive in Windows Explorer (or whatever file browser you're using). No drivers needed.