Hey all, Awhile back I had a thread about an IDE adaptor for a 500 GB hard drive, well that was a fluke, so I decided I was going to get an external Hard drive enclosure for it and use it as an external hard drive. here is the problem, I Had an external Hard drive given to me and my dad. He wanted the 80 gig hard drive in it to put in his external HD enclosure, and I got the enclosure itself. It is an ION GHD135U80 (minus the 80 gig hard drive of course) the problem is, it didnt come with a power adaptor, so I have no idea if it will support the 500 gig Hitachi HD I want to put in it, or any way to know it it works. Im 90% sure all the hardware is working, it was sitting in a closet, and the hard drive we took out of it was in perfect working order, and if it was dropped hard enough to break it one would think it would have ruined the hard drive, and I have opened it and see no visible burn marks or other damage. so far as far as Ive seen, the adaptors for it will cost about 30 dollars online after shipping, but I dont want to sink 30 bucks into an adaptor if it wont recognize the 500 gig hard drive. I also have a 40 gig HD I could put in it instead, but im not sure thats worth the 30 bucks. does anyone know if that model External HD will support a 500 gig hard drive or not? I cant find anything about it online, and if so, is it worth buying an adaptor for? I found the entire thing online for a value of around 267 bucks from one manufacture though it looks really high and im sure I could find it cheaper elsewhere. so its it worth keeping and dumping 30 bucks on an adaptor?

I don't see why it would not handle a different hard drive. I see no reason that GB size would matter. But it is still a chance to take.

I would spend the $30 on a PCI IDE controller card and mount the drive internally. You will also have the possibility of adding three more drives.

lol I dont have any room inside the case for 3 more drives, Im using an older case, and I only have 3 3.5 inch bays, 1 of which is taken by the 500 gig I already have in there, the other by the diskette drive (Old I know, but my wife has all her schoolwork from college on diskettes and im to lazy to transfer them all to cd, and I occasionally still have to use diskettes to transfer files to older computers) and one empty bay. . I was thinking external HD, because then I can use it with my laptop as well, which only has a 80 gig hard drive. the reason i wasnt sure if it would support it is cuz I have been reading through specs on other exernal HD enclosures and they specify how big of a drive they can handle, though its usually between 500 and 750 gb, and since it only came with an 80 stock I wasnt sure. I found enclosures on newegg for like 20 bucks but they all seemed pretty cheap looking, and from all my research online the avg price for this enclosure is around 300 dollars (seems high for an 80 gig to me, but thats the average price) so 30 bucks would be a deal for this particular enclosure, I just dont want to dump 30 bucks on it if it wont work.

For that matter why not a whole new external case with all the works for under $20?

3.5" USB Drive Cases

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=CSE

Most that I glanced at said any hard drive.

Oops. Overlooked your Newegg comment.

Another approach is to search your existing electronic devices for a similar AC adapter.

If the plug type fits it might work as a test.

Here are some cheaper adapters 12V/5V

http://www.addonics.com/products/pow...2v_adapter.asp

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...V+Dual&spell=1

http://www.surplusgizmos.com/Lacie-M...4-reviews.html

Verify the connector. I am seeing 4 pin or 5 pin.

http://www.pacificgeek.com/product.a...1&c=216&s=1108

Spec here for the 12/5:

http://www.geminicomputersinc.com/iogionus3580.html

Originally Posted by jephree

Oops. Overlooked your Newegg comment.

Another approach is to search your existing electronic devices for a similar AC adapter.

If the plug type fits it might work as a test.

I did that, the only cable that I have that will physically fit the connection, is the wire leading from a pioneer 6 disk changer to the little faceplate that goes in the front of the car to control it. funny, same connection but supplies no power lol. Im not sure, I may chech with a friend of mine and a local computer store, but in the end i think i may sell it on ebay and just buy a new enclosure. thanks for the advice

Just my own feeling about the price differential is the original enclosure was manufactured and marketed as a complete unit "ready to use" for a consumer that most likely had no idea what was in nor out.

You might be correct that the case might be a bit "more built" than these $20 models but most of the original price was end user marketing. IMHO.

Also any opening obviously voided warranties etc.

Anyway glad to help. Let us know if we can help further.

hehe it was past its warranty date anyway. and I agree most of it was warranty, Ive decided to just get one of the 20 dollar models most likely, and sell this one on ebay and hope someones gullible enough to buy it (or just let it collect in my misc. computer junk pile, prolly the more likely of the 2) anyway thanks for the help!