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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.

-Austin (ATMINSIDE)