Adaptec USB 2.0 Upgrade Kit

Advantages: Works well out of box; captures video as MPEG-2 flawlessly
Disadvantages: Stopped working after a Microsoft update - Adaptec will not offer free fix.

...Product served me well for transferring several piles of VHS tapes to my Media Center 2005 machine. Then - Microsoft came out with some software update and product only works for a limited time. Pause it while recording and the PC freezes. restart the PC and it no longer detects the device. Remove device - uninstall drivers and uninstalling WinDVR 3 all temporary fixes - problem reoccurs. Doing the C++ registry hack worked very limited, now does not. Adaptec - with this known problem - can not even be contacted outside of their "pay" support. Adaptec has not updated their searchable database with the "fix" - they apparently demand their customers to pay them before they assist. A sad state of affairs within a once-great company. Shame on you, Adaptec!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: A bargain. Easy to install and used. Good entry level SCSI controller.
Disadvantages: No support for higher data rates.

...large images quickly. Other than a high rate of data, transfer SCSI has two main advantages. The most important is the number of devices you can connect. Even budget cards like the AVA – 2904 can mange a total of seven SCSI devices be they internal or external. The second advantage is that SCSI devices are more reliable. It is true that USB lets you add a lot of devices as well but SCSI still gives better reliability and performance and there are probably still more SCSI devices than USB. Reliability is irrelevant if you are buying new equipment as most pc hardware is good these days, but if you are on a budget (or even just enjoy tinkering) you can buy old SCSI devices and be reasonably confident they will still perform well. Since SCSI has been around a long time there is a lot of old kit available. For example if you are short... Read review

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Advantages: USB FRONT AND BACK
Disadvantages: Fitting For Novices

...without the hassle of moving and scrambling round the back of the PC. STABILITY As with the other Trust products I’ve used this is again perfectly stable and never causes me any problems or conflicts. SPEED Running at USB 2.0 speed it’s darn fast. At around 480mb a second even firewire isn’t going to touch it (that is only about 412mb a second). But it will also run at the slower 12mb a second should you have a USB 1.0 product as it is fully backwards compatible. EASE OF INSTALLATION Slightly more to do here than with the other front plate as in addition to fitting the front plate you also have to fit the PCI card. Now once you’ve fitted one in the past it’s pretty straight forward. However for those of you not wanting to open your PC up (and don’t forget if it’s under warranty it will void the warranty) you may want to take it to a PC... Read review

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