Help naming and locating this PCMCIA > HDD Device

[XCoalMiner]

A few months ago I saw a pc support technician using a device that: goes into a PCMCIA slot, has a short ribbon cable, and a small connector that plugs into a laptop hard drive.

The technician used the device to recover data from a HD that was unbootable, I assumed the laptop HD, using some driver, was just mapped as an additional drive under the OS, such as E: or F: The laptop HD was just sitting on his desk during this process.

So now a co-worker is in need just such a device, to try and recover a failing HD. Does anyone know the name and /or supplier of these devices, they sound like something that would be in a technicians toolkit, but unfortunately I haven't some up with the right search words to locate them?

[gosha16]

sorry, ive never seen that but there is another option. get one of these and just plop the hard drive into a regular computer to save the data.

[XCoalMiner]

For future reference, and even though it's a year and a half old, thought I'd answer my own thread, as I found some of these devices:

Serial ATA (SATA) to USB 2.0 Cable Converter Adapter with Power Supply: http://www.sabrent.com/products/specs/USB-2535.htm

USB 2.0 TO IDE CABLE FOR 2.5"/3.5"/ 5.25" DRIVE WITH POWER ADAPTER: http://www.sabrent.com/products/specs/SATA-C35U.htm

Very interesting little devices, especially for troubleshooting and tinkering. A year and a half later, USB rather than PCMCIA.

[bill bolton]

I haven't some up with the right search words to locate them?

Nowadays its a "USB external drive cable"..... however you will need to know the type of drive interface on the target laptop drive, which could be either mini-IDE or SATA.

Here's a SATA example from eBay.

Cheers,

Bill