# Solved: home made PC harddrive adapter?



## name is guy (Feb 12, 2009)

hello 

iv been thinking and searching on the web for some time now on ideas for a DIY hard drive adapter cord for a laptop and found nothing. What i want to do is connect a regular PC hard drive by USB ,i know there's kits for this but before i go out spending money i want to try my luck ,plus it's seems like a very useful piece of know how. If anyone has any links or suggestions ,that would be very helpful.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

TI seems to make an IC that does most of the work for ATA/ATAPI drives ...

http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tusb6250.html


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## name is guy (Feb 12, 2009)

cwwozniak said:


> TI seems to make an IC that does most of the work for ATA/ATAPI drives ...
> 
> http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tusb6250.html


so this is a all in one solution ,3.3V and everything ,do you know if i can get something like this from a best buy or popular computer store?


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

name is guy said:


> so this is a all in one solution ,3.3V and everything


No, it is not. The Texas Instrument part requires separate power supply and other electronic circuits all on a printed circuit board in order to make a usable USB to ATA/ATAPI drive interface.



name is guy said:


> do you know if i can get something like this from a best buy or popular computer store?


I highly doubt it. TI has a list of suppliers here:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tusb6250.html#pricingpackaging

They offer samples but I am not sure if they require the requester to meet certain qualifications to get them.


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## Knotbored (Jun 5, 2004)

Newegg lists 17 hard drive enclosures for less then $10 and hundreds more for a few dollars more. I doubt if you can obtain the parts for less then that, If you are building it for the experience then fine, I also spend a few extra dollars sometimes for the pleasure of building something, but its doubtful you will save any cash.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Gad, for $15-20 you can have a ton of enclosures and/or external IDE/SATA cables. I can't imagine wanting to put all the work into this to reinvent the wheel!


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## name is guy (Feb 12, 2009)

well it was a thought ,i guess i can spend a few bucks no big deal ,it would of been a cool project if possible by cheap hack.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I don't think a "cheap hack" is going to do it here, it's so much cheaper to buy the mass produced product.


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