Review on Coolgear SATA and IDE Hard Drive & Optical Drive USB 2.0 Adapter Kit - Convert 2.5, 3.5, & 5.25 Drives Easily by James Daniels

I bought this to connect my damaged laptop drive from a 2005 HP laptop and preserve the data. Connecting a 2.5" IDE drive worked fine and there was no need to 'master' the drive or even install the USB drivers that came with it (on Windows XP SP3). At first glance it seemed impossible to connect my HP laptop. 2.5" hard drive to this adapter but I spoke to tech support who was very helpful. He explained that I must first remove the proprietary HP connector that is installed on the hard drive and covers the pins, and also remove the mounting plate that partially covers the pins on the small hard drive in order for the adapter plug to fit. The documentation doesn't mention this and is generally a bit sketchy. However, it did its job and in the end I was very happy with the adapter and this provider. It is well made and has good long USB and power cables.