The good people over at A.C.Ryan have been busy this winter coming up with new ideas and introducing innovative products. To give us a taste of what they've been up to, A.C.Ryan sent over a sample of their new UDrive. The UDrive is a handy little USB adapter for internal hard drives. The UDrive isn't just for one type of hard drive, this baby is compatible with 2.5", 3.5" and 5.25" IDE hard drives. It is also compatible with Serial ATA hard drives! The UDrive may not be the tool everyone needs, but anyone who is a hardware enthusiast, hobbyist, or technician will tell you this is the tool they have always dreamed of.

     I hate to sound like those late night infomercials, but you get a lot for $24.95. You may not get a free set of knives and a can of hair paint, but you do get the UDrive, power adapter, adapter plugs, cables and a drivers disk. I was truly impressed that all this came in the box for such a low price.

     Worried about compatibility? No worries, the UDrive is compatible with Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, and XP. Are you a Mac user? If so, the UDrive will work with Mac OS 9.0 and above. Wondering about Windows Vista? Well, Vista seems to be able to handle the Udrive just fine here in my shop. Let's go over the specs next.

UDrive Specifications:

UDrive IDE & SATA2
USB2.0 to IDE/SATA2 External Converter
for 2.5" / 3.5" / 5.25" drives

For 2.5" / 3.5" / 5.25"
2.5" & 3.5" harddisks
5.25" optical drives (cdrw, dvdrw etc)

For IDE & SATA/SATA2
for all IDE drives (2.5" / 3.5" / 5.25")
for all SATA/SATA2 drives (2.5" / 3.5")
supports all harddisk up to 10000RPM
supports 2.5" harddisk max capacity 100GB
supports 3.5" harddisk max capacity 1024GB

2 drives on 1 USB
2 drives (1 IDE and 1 SATA/SATA2) can be connected at the same time
Each drive will appear separately in your PC

Fastest way to hook up your drive
no screwdriver needed
no fuss with installation
no need to open up computer casing
simply plug in and done!

True HotSwap Plug-n-Play
Simply Plug n Play even while your system is on

Portable
Small & easy to carry around
Fits easily in all notebook bags

Cool to have around
All techies / technical workshops must have one
Great for quickly hooking up a dvdrw drive to a notebook

Package Contents:
- UDrive External Converter with USB2.0 cable
- AC Power adaptor (AC to Molex 12V / 5V)
- Molex adaptor for 2.5" drive power
- Molex adaptor for SATA power
- Driver CD for Windows 98SE*
* no drivers needed for Windows Me/2000/XP
* no drivers needed for Mac OS 9.0 or above

UDrive SATA Cable and Power Adapters

Standard ATA Interface

Serial ATA Interface

2.5" ATA Interface

     I tested the UDrive with a Windows XP and a Vista Home Premium system. Each test system installed the drivers for the UDrive automatically. The UDrive is hot swappable, but I still had to scan for new hardware or reboot in order to get the system to recognize the hard drive under Windows.

     As for performance, the UDrive is only going to be as fast as your USB port. Besides, the UDrive isn't about performance, it's about being able to test or access hard drives without cracking open your computer case. Again, this isn't something everyone out there needs to run out and buy, but if you're a hardware technician, the UDrive is one of the best tools to have on the bench. A.C.Ryan doesn't seem to have a lot invested into the quality department, but it works and it's inexpensive. As for using it here at ClubOC, I've already found myself grabbing the UDrive off the shelf quite a bit to test hard drives I've had laying around the shop and in a couple old computers. The UDrive is an extremely handy device that I'll be keeping for a lot of future use!