Hardware Tales - USB HDD Bridge connector

Submitted by chatan on January 24, 2009 - 7:06am

I have a couple of 'naked' hard drives (HDD) laying around and wanted to put them to use.
I went to the local Japanese computer store looking for one of those HDD docking stations, but I found a "Hi-Speed USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge" which allows you to plug your HDD via a USB cable.

I like taking risks so I took a chance that it would work with Linux and bought it. It was about $30US equivalent.
The product website with pictures is here: http://www.century.co.jp/products/pc/hdd-kit/craisu2.html
There has got to be similar products on the US markets, especially given the lsusb output (see down below).

At first it wouldn't work and I thought I wasted my money, but after a lot of messing around; here are the keys to get it to work:
1) Make sure you have the HDD jumper set as MASTER
2) Turn on the power supply before plugging in the USB to the computer.
3) Wait about 30 seconds or so for the HDD to mount.

It will mount to /media folder like any other USB storage device and show on the desktop. In my case, it mounted as sdc1.
I can only write to the HDD as root (K-menu >>> System >>> File System >>> File Manager - Super User Mode) but that is fine with me right now. It reads as user fine.

Here is some technical data:

lsusb output:
ID 152d:2338 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JM20337 Hi-Speed USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge

dmesg output

usb 1-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5<br />
usb 1-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice<br />
scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices<br />
usb-storage: device found at 5<br />
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning<br />
usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=152d, idProduct=2338<br />
usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5<br />
usb 1-5: Product: USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge<br />
usb 1-5: Manufacturer: JMicron<br />
usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 7D577AE31168<br />
usb-storage: device scan complete<br />
scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WDC WD12 00JB-00FUA0      5R15 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 234441648 512-byte hardware sectors (120034 MB)<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 234441648 512-byte hardware sectors (120034 MB)<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through<br />
 sdc: sdc1<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk<br />
sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0<br />
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds<br />
EXT3 FS on sdc1, internal journal<br />
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.<br />

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