14 DAY TRIAL // With the advent of newer and faster connectivity technology, old storage solutions end up gathering dust because they no longer perform well enough to be included in the latest system configurations. Sometimes, old hard drives can't even perform well enough as auxiliary external storage. Brando, however, launched a new product that will once again give a job to unused storage units, allowing them to run at USB 3.0 speeds. This is accomplished thanks to the UNITEK USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter. The gadget delivers connectivity solutions similar to Sharkoon's USB LANPort. Granted, Sharkoon's device, although bulky, can interface with printers, flash drives and other peripherals besides just storage units. Still, even though Brando's adapter only works with HDDs, it plugs directly into the port-laden side of the product and mediates between the SATA connectivity of the drive and whatever USB 3.0 connectivity option the user has available.
Of course, consumers will need a system capable of making use of Brando's product. This means that the PC's motherboard will need to support USB 3.0 or be equipped with an expansion card. When these conditions are met, any old hard disk can once again be employed. The adapter can directly interface with SATA Gen2i (3 Gbps) & Gen1i (1.5 Gbps); in addition, it complies with Serial ATA Specification Revision 2.6. Connectivity is not limited to just SATA, however, as even IDE hard drives may take advantage of the technology when using an IDE to SATA HDD Docking Converter.
The adapter is compliant with the Universal Serial Bus 3.0 Specification, Revision 1.0, as well as Revision 2.0 and supports ATA / ATAPI devices. The maximum HDD capacity supported is 2TB and the compatible operating systems are Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux.
The product measures approximately 69 x 40 x 12mm and weighs 67g. It is priced at only US$48.00 and is already selling through Brando's online store.