Mini PCI-e to USB adapter for Netbook SSD access

Question

My old Asus Eee PC 1000 Linux netbook laptop finally kicked the bucket. It now frequently halts at random times, including immediately after pressing the power button. After some tests I concluded that it was likely the motherboard, and am now preparing to donate to a local enthusiast.

I would first like to gather the contents of its 8 GB, and 32 GB SSD. (I would then also format these two SSDs.)

From looking at the SSDs, I recognised their connectors as mini PCI-e. After some searching, I found a mini PCI-e to USB adapter; and bought this one. With the SSD in place, I insert the adapter to my USB socket, but then nothing happens. I've tried under Ubuntu, Windows XP and Chrome; all with no luck. I guess the adapter is not intended for this role, but now I have it, is there any possibility that there are perhaps drivers or their sourcecode to be found somewhere?

Answer 1

If it really is a miniPCIe card (doubtful):

The mini-PCIe connection contains pins for several different busses, including USB. Most likely your adapter merely connects the USB pins on the miniPCIe connector, and leaves the PCIe pins unconnected.

You'll need an active adapter, or an internal adapter that connects to your desktop's PCIe bus.

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More likely, you have an mSATA connector, which uses the same physical connector as the miniPCIe but is electrically incompatible.

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Answer 2

I recognised their connectors as mini PCI-e

Sadly this thus not mean that it actually is mini PCI-e. That form factor is used for both mini PCI-e itself and for mSATA. To quote wikipedia: "Despite sharing the mini-PCI Express form factor, an mSATA slot is not necessarily electrically compatible with Mini PCI Express"