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Is there any risk to either the hard drive or the laptop if I connect them together using a USB 2.0 to SATA IDE cable?

Is there any risk in creating a back-up of the laptop, on the 3.5" SATA HDD with only 5w power using with USB 2.0 TO SATA/IDE cable?

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There is no problem using a 3.5" hard drive external to a laptop. However, you will need to use a separate power supply to power the hard disk, as the USB can provide neither the amount of power, nor the correct voltage to run the drive.

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There is absolutely no risk, however you will get a bit of a problem with powering your 3.5 Inch HDD. You will need a special connector and a source of power for your 3.5 Inch HDD. You will not be able to power it directly from USB. As of other differences between the two, there is a very high quality thread on SU

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  • -1 'absolutely no risk'; a fluctuating power level (e.g over-strained USB bus) can directly cause data corruption. (My only source is personal experience - faulty caddy with 12v rail that varied +-0.5v @0.5Hz would render drives unreadable).
    – RJFalconer
    Commented May 19, 2014 at 15:31
  • USB has no 12V rail, so that would have been your adapter's PSU at fault, not the USB. Also, it has over-current protection - draw too much current and it shuts off the power. You don't get "over strained" USB busses.
    – Majenko
    Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 18:51

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