I tried an IDE-to-SATA adapter at least once, but it never worked; and customer reviews of all the IDE-SATA adapters I've looked at on Newegg.com suggest that they're unreliable at best and junk at worst. Can anyone recommend any adapters that work well, or should I stay away from them?

I'm thinking about this because I have two good IDE hard drives left, but all my IDE cables have failed. I've thrown out all but the one I'm using, and on it, the slave connector has fallen apart and the master connector seems to have a problem reading either drive. (I used a Seagate diagnostic program on both drives; its tests say there's nothing wrong with them.) Meanwhile, I have four empty SATA ports and a pile of unused SATA cables.

I have a Manhattan Model #703253 IDE to USB from Dalco that performed flawlessly. It was sold under the Dalco brand; I think it was this one.

I've been buying stuff from Dalco for over a decade. They haven't failed me yet.