mSATA to SATA adapter experiences?

[the86d]

So I gave my old notebook to my buddy's dad. Anyway grandkids left it on for weeks is what he said, and the HDD died. It turns out when I went to open the beast up, it had no HDD, so his leach-son took it out, probably for his own rig.

You can get a 64gb mSATA SSD for about pretty-cheap, new. I really want to get him something that has no way to mount in a PC, in case his leach-son decides he needs another one. I might have to source some security Torx screws for the plate, too.

Has anyone had good or bad luck with adapters such as these?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SINTECH-mSATA-to-Micro-SATA-Adapter-converter-card-for-intel-Sandisk-Adata-SSD-/221277513171?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item33852ae5d3

[the86d]

Really nobody has used these?

The mSATA drives are about just over 1/2 the price of a SATA SSD in many cases.

[sholling]

I'm using one similar to that in my home server and it works fine - but if I had it to do over I'd just buy a SATA SSD. While it's no Samsung, Crucial, or IBM; Newegg has a cheap 120GB SSD on sale for $50 right now. Or you could step up to a 240gb Crucial for $80.

[Wallabing]

You need a 2.5 bay adapter if your gonna use a mSATA it in your laptop.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/400736870231?lpid=82&chn=ps

[the86d]

I was kind of getting a feel of what experiences with similar devices were, as I actually have many notebooks I would like to donate to family members (for installing Linux, so they can't infect them as easily), and many actually only support 44-pin IDE interfaces, so I assumed the tech is similar enough (with a controller) to SATA to get some feedback (assuming most people never used mSATA to 44-pin IDE).

I really wouldn't need an adapter to prevent it falling out of the IDE plug (as I have a rotatory tool, scissors, and a recycle-bin full of plastic).

The 44-pin IDE SSDs are more expensive (generally ~$60-$75+ for 64gb devices) and since I am donating these away anyway, I would like to keep the cost down, since I have a few to donate. Even @ ~$40 for a 64gb module, if I am going to buy 4-6 of them, it's still a substantial savings, when you add a $3 adapter to go to 44pin IDE. I am looking at saving $80-$120 after 4-6 are purchased. I am planning on getting some spare adapters, so if any die, it is just a swap, and the mSATA to IDE adapters are cheap as hell anyway.

With the longevity of SSDs, they could be used in subsequent computers too, or when my platter drive dies in my Slackware box (with a mSATA to SATA adapter, also for about $3).

Thanks for the input.