# US 6,721,176 B2 · Universal hard disk cartridge

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- Number: US 6,721,176 B2
- Document ID: US6721176B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 10/014,494
- Filed: 2001-12-14
- Published: 2003-06-19
- Granted: 2004-04-13
- Earliest claimed: 2001-12-14
- Inventors: Bill Kwong; Victor Chuan-Chen Wu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US6721176B2

## CPC

- G11B 33/122: {Arrangements for providing electrical connections, e.g. connectors, cables, switches}
- G11B 33/124: {of the single recording/reproducing device, e.g. disk drive, onto a chassis}
- G11B: INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER (recording measured values in a way that does not require playback through a transducer G01D9/00; recording or playback apparatus using mechanically marked tape, e.g. punched paper tape, or using unit records, e.g. punched or magnetically marked cards G06K; transferring data from one type of record carrier to another G06K1/18; circuits for coupling output of reproducer to radio receiver H04B1/20; gramophone pick-ups or like acoustic electromechanical transducers or circuits therefor H04R)

## Abstract

A cartridge design allows any standard size IDE hard drive to be used like a removable media. The cartridge with the hard drive can then be connected to any computing devices via various interface ports such as USB, Firewire, PCMCIA, Parallel or any new IO ports. The cartridge consists of a disk connecting board, a cartridge housing and an eject mechanism to remove the hard drive from the cartridge.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A universal hard disk cartridge for inserting a removable hard drive and connecting to a I/O port of a personal computer by an interface cable comprising:
a) a universal hard disk cartridge housing; and
b) a hard disk connecting board connected to the universal hard disk cartridge housing such that a portion of the hard disk connecting board extends out of a first side of the universal hard disk cartridge housing, the hard disk connecting board having:
i) a female IDE connector configured to be removably connected to a male IDE connecter of the hard drive;
ii) a MC-36 female connector having a portion extending outwardly of a second side of the universal hard disk cartridge housing, and configured to be removably connected to a MC-36 male connector of the interface cable;
iii) a power input jack; and
iv) a printed circuit board, the female IDE connector, the MC-36 female connector and the power input jack being connected to the circuit board, wherein the universal hard disk cartridge housing has a length less than a length of the printed circuit board.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The universal hard disk cartridge for inserting the removable hard drive and connecting to the I/O port of the personal computer by the interface cable according to claim 1, wherein the universal hard disk cartridge housing has an ejection button such that the removable hard drive is detached from the hard disk connecting board by pushing the ejection button.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The universal hard disk cartridge for inserting the removable hard drive and connecting to the I/O port of the personal computer by the interface cable according to claim 1, wherein the hard disk has an identification label.