Reviews are always "iffy". Much of it depends on the user... much of it on the manufacture. There are other adapters similar to the one I posted... I just posted what I use (with success).
HERE is another one, but the interface is a little different, and again, not all users are satisfied. There are many different ones you can use, and I was just going by my own experience. Of course, you know what they say... your mileage may vary... so the decision is really up to
you.
EDITED: I thought I should edit my post to address your concerns a little more.
The reason your Maxtor is not working is unknown. That said, there is a good chance the hard drive itself is broken. As you can imagine, the failure could be due to the hard drive, or the enclosure it came in. If it’s the enclosure that’s bad, then putting a new drive in it may cause the new drive to die also. Electronics fail all the time and we never know when it’s going to happen or what can cause it. This is why your Maxtor is now not operating as it should.
If the Maxtor drive itself it broken, then buying the adapter from Newegg will not fix it. So if you did purchase the Newegg adapter and connected it to the drive and it didn't work, you may end up thinking the new adapter killed it… which would not be the case.
Basically, you take your chances whenever you buy something and unfortunately there are no garuantees.
Unless you can slave your Maxtor drive in another computer (which I mentioned in my first reply), you will not be able to tell if the drive will even spin up... and, you will also not be able to tell if its the drive or the enclosure thats causing the actual problem. If you have a desktop computer available, I would try to slave the drive first before purchasing anything. I would aslo try to find someone to help you if you cannot do this yourself.
Edited by makai, 07 January 2009 - 04:52 AM.