Upgradeware HD25-S

Upgradeware's HD25-S is a very unusual piece of hardware. It's a PCI expansion card, but its purpose is the installation of a 2.5" hard drive in an unorthodox way.

This product is not a hard drive controller, which means that you need a free Serial ATA port to actually use the additional drive. You then take any 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive (both 9.5 mm and 12.5 mm height work), place it on the HD25-S and push it towards the SATA connector. If you want to install the drive for permanent installation we recommend using some screws to tighten the drive to the PCB. Even if not, you should bolt down at least one screw, as the SATA connector might not be strong enough to hold a 2.5" hard drive that actually rotates and vibrates. Finally, connect the SATA port to your free SATA port of your controller/motherboard and you're done.

The HD25-S uses a simple 32-bit PC interface, but merely to provide the 2.5" drive with power and to retain itself inside the computer. 2.5" drives don't get hot, so there is no need to apply active cooling.

Pros:

• Lets you install a 2.5" drive into a desktop PC.
• No need to waste a 3.5" or 5.25" drive bay to install a 2.5" drive.
• Can be used if you ran out of drive bays and still need internal storage.
• Cons:
  • It would be cool to install two hard drives on the PCB...