Any regular drive function can be performed via the usb interface. You can also reformat the drive if you want. From the file explorer, you can now copy and delete files. Windows will assign a drive letter to a drive that is already formatted. Eventually, if all is well, you will get a message saying that the device is ready to use. In the lower right corner, you will see messages like 'Drive Found', or the model number of the drive will flash by. If you are using Windows XP, you will hear a po-dink sound as the adapter is recognized. There will be some gentle clicking and whirring sounds. Plug in the power supply for the adapter. Once all the connections to the drive are complete, plug the cable into any available usb port on your computer. This is very simple because the connectors are shaped differently and mixing them up is not possible.

Once you have the adapter plugged in, you must also plug the power cable into the connector next to the data cable. Some Western Digital drives require you to remove the jumper entirely. There is a picture on the label that shows you where to put the jumper. You accomplish this by setting the jumper on the drive. Hard drives also need to be set to master or single drive mode. You simply plug the IDE connector into the device you want to access. The adapter has an IDE connector on one side and the other side has a usb connector. How do I use this adapter? I am glad you asked. Simply put, it translates the IDE commands and data to usb format for the PC to access the device without installing it physically in the computer. Anyway, a usb to ide adapter is a device that connects to a hard drive or CD/DVD and allows you to access them via a computer's usb port.

What is a usb to ide adapter? First off, let me start by saying that there are usb to ide/sata adapters out there that support IDE and SATA drives, but for sake of brevity, I will refer to them generically as usb to ide adapters. How many times have you needed to take the data from an old hard drive? What a hassle it is to open up the computer and add the drive just to get some data off it. As a computer user, you need a way of transferring data from one computer to another.

Usb to ide device