Inateck UA1001 USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter Review

In for today is an item a little out of the norm for my reviews, the Inateck UA1001 USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter. I’m sure you all have seen plenty of external HDD/SSD enclosures and docking stations, but this is Inateck’s portable solution. This adapter is small enough to stick in your pocket, backpack, or laptop bag for use on the fly. Instead of encasing the HDD or SSD, this adapter just plugs in to the end of the drive much like SATA cables would. Let’s take a look the adapter and check out the performance!

Specifications and Features

Here’s a list of the features given by Inateck: The most notable specs here are that this supports any SATA HDD/SSD/ODD that you can plug it in to, can saturate full USB 3.0, and is plug and play. I’ve also tested this on Windows 8.1 and it worked flawlessly. Inateck’s website doesn’t list 8.1 as supported, but the retail package does (seen later).

Inateck UA1001 USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter
General
  • Support 2.5 /3.5 SATA SSD HDD, Support BLU-RAY DVD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW Combo devices.
  • The transfer speed can reach as high as its SuperSpeed (5 Gbps) / high-speed (480 Mbps) / full-speed (12 Mbps).
  • Note: actual rate will depend on the capability of your device.
  • Backward compatible with USB 2.0 / 1.1.
Features
  • Compatible Systems: It is compatible with the Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista / Win 7 / Mac OSX 10.X.
  • It allows you to connect any 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA drive to your computer for fast USB 3.0 data transfer. Back up, move or archive your notebook or PC HDD files quickly and easily with the USB 3.0 to SATA adapter.
  • Additional Power input for 3.5” HDD
  • USB (Universal Serial Bus) Version 2.0 Compliant
  • Plug and play, hot swappable
Package
  • 1 x USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter
  • 1 x 12V/2A Power Adapter
  • 1 x USB 3.0 Micro B Male to A Male Cable
Weight and Dimensions
  • Item Weight: 9.6oz
  • Box Dimensions: 5.2″ x 3.6″ x 3.2″

Retail Packaging

The UA1001 came in a simple black box, with mostly white writing. The packaging lays out the specifications of the adapter, contents of the box, and features of the adapter in a concise yet thorough manner. Simple and effective, I like it.

Retail Package
Retail Package

Retail Package - Front
Retail Package – Front

Retail Package - Side
Retail Package – Side

Retail Package - Rear
Retail Package – Rear

Upon opening the box, we see the adapter itself nestled in a plastic holder. Underneath the plastic holder you can find the accessories.

Retail Package - Opened
Retail Package – Opened

Included Accessories

Provided with the UA1001 are a power adapter and USB 3.0 cable. I can’t think of any other accessories you could need for this device.

Accessories
Accessories

The Inateck UA1001 USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter – A Closer Look

Now that we’ve seen all the packaging and accessories, it’s time to take a look at the adapter itself. On the front of the adapter is a simple description and the “Inateck” brand name. Flipping the adapter over you’ll find the rear side completely blank.

In the next two pictures the connections to the adapter are seen. The SATA connection plugs straight into the SSD/HDD/ODD to provide the drive with power and data connections. The plugs on the other side of the adapter are for the USB data signal and for the power supply. Some drives can be used only off of the USB cable, if they can receive enough power from the USB connection alone. This would typically be the 2.5″ SSD or HDD that could be used without the power connection.

UA1001 Adapter
UA1001 Adapter – Front
UA1001 Adapter - Rear
UA1001 Adapter – Rear

UA1001 Adapter - SATA Connection
UA1001 Adapter – SATA Connection

UA1001 Adapter - Power and USB Connections
UA1001 Adapter – Power and USB Connections

Testing and Performance

And finally we get to the fun part, using the UA1001 adapter! I took out the cables, grabbed the closest SSD I had (a 240GB Kingston HyperX 3K), and plugged it into the USB 3.0 port on my daily computer. Boom, connected. No driver message, no waiting, instantly seen. The SSD was showing in Disk Management just like a drive connected on a SATA port would.

Note that this computer is a Z97E-ITX/ac motherboard and I was using one of the chassis ports on a Hadron Air. This system runs Windows 8.1.

Of course, I have testing data to share with the world, so here it is! Runs of both ATTO Disk Benchmark and CrystalDiskMark are seen below.

ATTO Benchmark
ATTO Results
CrystalDiskMark Results
CrystalDiskMark Results

Both benchmarks show the same results… FAST. The UA1001 has no trouble at all saturating the USB 3.0 connection.

Conclusion

Well, this is my first Inateck product. Until Lvcoyote offered the review sample up to me, I had no idea who they were. Now, I’m staring at a nifty little adapter that performs flawlessly and is built very well. They’ve impressed me on both the product and company level so far. Whether you plan to use this on the run or at your typical work area, the UA1001 will definitely save you space without sacrificing performance.

Inateck seems to be making a very good name for themselves, and the UA1001 shows why. They make great products at competitive prices. Speaking of pricing, did I mention that the adapter is only $19 on Amazon? With nothing negative to say, I’m done. Overclockers approved!

Overclockers_clear_approvedClick the stamp for an explanation of what this means.

-Austin (ATMINSIDE)

About Austin Matthews 47 Articles
Austin is a mechanical engineer who enjoys both overclocking and building computers. For 10+ years, he has been writing video card, motherboard, storage and processor reviews for Overclockers.com. In 2018, he became one of the owners of the site and can now mostly be found managing the servers and technology that power Overclockers.com. When not on the site, he's spending time with his wife and kid, enjoying racing, or working on the house or cars.

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Avatar of Janus67
Janus67

Benching Team Leader

17,215 messages 531 likes

nice short and sweet review, good job atm.

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ATMINSIDE

Sim Racing Aficionado Co-Owner

23,909 messages 403 likes

nice short and sweet review, good job atm.

Thanks Janus!

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Avatar of HankB
HankB

Member

1,221 messages 20 likes

Thanks for the short and sweet review. :thup:

From the Amazon page:

... up to Max. 4TB

:confused:

Why do these devices have this limitation? Is it something inherent in the USB spec? Some other built in limitation? I think I would have to qualify any recommendation for something like this if it does not work with all devices presently on the market.

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ATMINSIDE

Sim Racing Aficionado Co-Owner

23,909 messages 403 likes

It's a limitation of USB, not the device.
The 4TB drives exceed the maximum logical block number that USB supports.

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HankB

Member

1,221 messages 20 likes

It's a limitation of USB, not the device.
The 4TB drives exceed the maximum logical block number that USB supports.

I'm a little surprised that the folks who designed USB 3.0 didn't see that coming and figure out a way to accommodate it. Perhaps it would break backward compatibility with 1.0 or 2.0 USB devices. The standard goes back to the late 90s.

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ATMINSIDE

Sim Racing Aficionado Co-Owner

23,909 messages 403 likes

I'm a little surprised that the folks who designed USB 3.0 didn't see that coming and figure out a way to accommodate it. Perhaps it would break backward compatibility with 1.0 or 2.0 USB devices. The standard goes back to the late 90s.

In their defense, we were using HDD's that operated in the tens of GB's in the late 90's.
Now we're staring at drives in the tens of TB's.

The scale of HDD size has grown logarithmically over the past few years instead of linearly. It'd be very hard to see that coming.

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wagex

Chapstick Eating Premium Member

6,422 messages 58 likes

It's a limitation of USB, not the device.
The 4TB drives exceed the maximum logical block number that USB supports.

this is false, there are 5 and 6tb usb external 3.0 drives ,and 12+tb usb storage arrays.

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Avatar of Janus67
Janus67

Benching Team Leader

17,215 messages 531 likes

then I wonder how something like this works:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=WxHRncoD05Y-y5rmx3BMyDMkjBIJ6UwvBg

5TB USB3 drive. Probably has a controller onboard or something.

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Avatar of ATMINSIDE
ATMINSIDE

Sim Racing Aficionado Co-Owner

23,909 messages 403 likes

this is false, there are 5 and 6tb usb external 3.0 drives ,and 12+tb usb storage arrays.

then I wonder how something like this works:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=WxHRncoD05Y-y5rmx3BMyDMkjBIJ6UwvBg

5TB USB3 drive. Probably has a controller onboard or something.

Those do it by using a controller that fractionates the drive into smaller parts, allowing the bus to see all the drive.
That takes special drivers and sometimes software though.

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Avatar of wagex
wagex

Chapstick Eating Premium Member

6,422 messages 58 likes

Those do it by using a controller that fractionates the drive into smaller parts, allowing the bus to see all the drive.
That takes special drivers and sometimes software though.

hi zach.png

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