USB Hard drive caddies

Well I got a new desktop and didn't want to stick the old hard drives inside the new machine, but wanted the flexibility of an external USB drive, so I bought a caddy, on the cheap.

Sabrent 1 Bay (ECS-STU35) USB 2.0 External Drive Case.

That's what I bought, $25 odd, in black. It's handy and it does the job, but you certainly get what you pay for.

The manual in the box has so many spelling errors it's not funny, and it doesn't actually tell you how to use the caddy, good job it's pretty easy. It includes a set of screws, which aren't any good because you can't screw your hard drive into the case, so the hard drive sits a bit loose inside, so not great if you don't have a steady surface to keep the caddy on.

The power adaptor is huge too and very clunky, a shame they didn't go with USB power for the drive.

The case itself is also not very sturdy, the whole thing falls apart when you remove the top surface to put the drive in and the electronics inside don't feel very well made, but there is enough cable to plug your drive in. You also can't stack the cases if you had more than one, which would have been a nice feature.

Pluses to the drive though, it's cheap, it does work , there are IDE and Sata connections and it is pretty easy to swap drives around, so a handy device to have for occasional use perhaps, but it might be worth spending a little bit more money for a nicer caddy for every day needs.

Get $10 free for kids summer reading program

TD Banknorth are doing a summer reading program for children, anyone under 18.

Don't need to be a current customer, but if you are, that's okay too, just set a savings account for the child and they read ten books by the end of September and they get $10 put into the account.

To open an account, you need $25. It's also a free account until the child hits 18, then you need a minimum balance of $250 or it's a $3 a month fee.

For a free $10, what the heck, and your kid gets to read a bunch of books.