The 3.5” hard drive has been in use for many years. It has been a standard size for desktops, network storage and enterprise use. In recent years, 2.5” hard drives have become popular due to increases in performance and storage capacity. Additionally, Solid State Drives are quickly becoming the standard. The problem is that in order to use one of the new 2.5” hard drives, you either have to modify your existing hardware, or buy new equipment. For some, this can be a very costly update. Icy Dock has a lower priced solution in the form of 2.5” to 3.5” hard drive converters. A 2.5” hard drive can be installed, making it the same size as a 3.5” hard drive with a standard SATA interface. These converters can be found starting at around $26.00 for the entry level converter and up to $34.99 for the enterprise class SAS compatible converter.
Using the enterprise version as an example, Icy Dock has a great picture showing how the MB982IP-1S-1 matches up to a standard hard drive. Here they attempt to show the size and that their enclosure has the same screw holes as a standard 3.5” drive.
Icy Dock 2.5” to 3.5” Hard Drive Converter Features:
SATA, SAS or SSD (7mm to 15mm)
Converts your 2.5” SATA HDD or SSD to a 3.5” SATA hard drive, for 3.5” SATA drive bay usage.Support SATA 6Gbps.Compatible with Most 3.5” HDD Backplanes and Hot Swap Devices.Universal mounting holes for most common PC case.Screw-less design for quick & easy hard drive installation.Airflow vents for heat dissipation with shockproof design.Simple and Lightweight design.Compatible with Mac Pro.Perfect for System Integrators and IT Professionals3 Year warrantyThere are two main versions of the Icy Dock 2.5” to 3.5” hard drive converters, each designed with slightly different target uses, however they can both be used in virtually any situation, providing the hard drive is compatible.
The consumer and small business version is the MB882SP (right converter) line, is mostly made out of plastic and is compatible with SATA drives only, while the MB982IP (left converter) line targets the enterprise this line includes SAS connectivity and is made out of metal.
When you need to clear up hard drive space in a hurry, the first thing you want to do is find out just what's taking up all that space. WinDirStat is a crowd favorite for scanning a drive and finding out what you can get rid of to get a little extra leg room in a hurry. The results are even color-coded to let you know what are important, system files that you shouldn't delete, and what's cat GIFs and videos of your friend's wedding. If you're on a Mac, our favorite analyzer, Disk Inventory X, has a lot of the same features for the same price (free!).
Finding the big stuff isn't always helpful. After all, you probably downloaded those giant videos for a reason. If you'd rather just find the old stuff, you can do that with simple search operators in the search box for Windows 7 and up. You can search for the last date modified, accessed, or when a file was created, and further sub-filter by size or type. Unfortunately this method lacks the nice visualization of file size that WinDirStat has, but it can go a long way in whittling down the stuff you don't need or use anymore. There are bunch more search operators you can use to narrow down your searches here.
