I got the Vantec USB adapter and was able to back up data from the windows and linux partitions. Worked well. However, when I tried to do some more with the adapter it did not work and I found the 5V from the power supply was more like 1V and varying. It has a 12V power supply that goes into a small box that outputs 12 and 5V. 12V looks good. I am going to try it with the main PC power supply. Will be exchanging it for another. I can deal with a bad power supply as there are other ways to deal with that even if I have to make one.
Be CAREFUL, some Dell motherboards were known to use non-standard pinouts on the power connector. Looks like a regular one but it's wired differently. I'd scour ebay or craigslist for a spare, but I'd go with local pickup as shipping is gonna be a hassle for one of those.
Personally I wouldn't bother trying to hack something together. Better to just bail on the hardware and move to something a lot more power efficient. A small, fanless mini PC with an SSD would give you a no-moving-parts solution that'd probably last forever.
Hardware is fine except for the HDD. I have several others as potential replacements. This has a parallel port that drives a CNC milling machine so best to just replace the drive. The power supply issue was the one that came with the USB to IDE/SATA drive interface I am just using for testing drives not the PC power supply.
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