IDE HDD to SATA motherboard

[danny]

What is the best way to hook up my old IDE HDD to my new HP Pavilion 6010 computer that only has SATA connection sockets on the motherboard?  The HP is running Windows Vista.

[Bob]

Danny,

I am going through the same process but am not finished yet.  Check out:

http://sewelldirect.com/SerialATAtoIDEConverter.asp?adpath=/Google/Other%20Products/Serial%20ATA%20to%20IDE%20Converter%20(Part%20No:%20%20SW-1615%20)&keywords=serial%20ata%20ide&match=2&search=content&gclid=CPvnro67640CFRhigQodJE2prg

I am trying to use an IDE to Serial ATA converter on my Win Vista system.  So far no luck and as I speak, my computer guru is checking my machine out.  There is not a lot of information out on this subject as yet...i.e.  using Vista OS and adding your old IDE PATA drive to the Serial ATA motherboard.

I will let you know what I hope to find out.

Bob

[Jonathan]

The IDE to SATA adapter that Bob just posted the link to does work pretty good if you're just using an HD and not a cd-rom drive.

Often times it works really good to install a PCI IDE controller card.  They're pretty easy to find.  Unfortunately the one Sewell Direct sells at this time does not list Vista as being a compatible OS.  So it may or may not work.  I haven't tried it yet personally.

[mark]

Jonathan and I lean opposite directions on this point.  I personally prefer adapters to a separate controller card.  Both options work... so it is really just a matter of preference.

The most common problem I have found with these adapters is the difference in how SATA is controlled.  Keep in mind that with a SATA adapter your computer will think you have another SATA drive.   

• Make sure the jumper settings on the drive are set to master (or single master).
• Some manufactures will disable additional SATA ports (I've seen it on several Dell Systems)  You will need to enable the additional port/ports through the system BIOS
• SATA boot priority is set in the BIOS as well.  If you want to boot to the IDE drive, either change the BIOS, or plug the adapter into the SATA1 port (or whichever is set as the first boot drive)

If you install an IDE controller card, your computer will recognize it as a fully functioning IDE controller.  Make sure that you correctly assign boot priority, master and slave drives, and any raid settings that you are using.  You will need to coordinate between the IDE controller and the onboard SATA ports.

[Bob]

I was -not able to find the correct IDE connector on my new mother board that would fit any cables that I have.  The one 40 pin connector socket is for the DVD or Floppy cable which I did not have.  I found a better solution for me.  Since my mother board has 3 open USB  ports I was able to find at my local supplier, a USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter which works with 2.5", 3.5" IED & SATA Hard Disks.  It cost me $21.00 and it comes with a power supply so it can be used to transfer or diagnose a hard drive outside the case.  It will plug into a SATA port or USB port and comes with a fairly long USB Cord which shoudl reach anywhere in your "box".  I had one internal USB port on a PCI board which I added recently so I hooked up my 2nd drive to that port and I re booted and the computer recongnized additional hardware, installed the device automatically and whamoooo!  my 2nd 300 GB drive was up and running.  Cheap and simple with no additional drivers etc.   

This device is a generic, made in China, and simple to install.  you plug the device into the parallel ATA drive and then plug into an available USB Port OR an available SATA Port (comes with cable for each.)  Another approach available with this device is to use the included AC power supply to power your drive, then use the USB cable to plug into an external USB port and just leave the drive on your desk.  It would operate similar to those External Hard Drives sans the case.

Using the above approaches to this problem, you need NOT worry about your BIOS recognizing your drive or having proper jumpers set etc. 

My drive is working fine, shows up as another storage device in Windows Explorer and the System, but does not show up on BIOS display if pulled up during booting.

Hope this helps.

Bob

[nervcat]

Gentlemen:

I've enjoyed the discussion. May I ask a question?
I'm trying to install my old PATA 120 gig drive into my new Dell as a secondary drive. I have the adaptor, purchased here, but I did not buy the "Y" power cord. I ought to have, apparently.
Everyone seems to indicate that the second drive, my PATA, should be configured as "master". I don't want the Dell to boot off this drive. Does this PATA have to be configured as "master" simply to be recognized by the new SATA protocol? Am I confused here?

I'm used to plugging TWO drives into one ribbon cable (PATA), and this doesn't seem to be the case with SATA. So, I presume my PATA drive must plug directly into the mother board?

Thanks ahead of time for any possible answers!

Nervcat

[Jonathan]

Having the drive jumpered to Master has nothing to do with the boot order.  On the older PATA style connetions you could run 2 drives off one port, so they had to have a way to be identified differently.  So one would be master and one would be slave.

If you are using an IDE(PATA) to SATA converter you have to set the IDE drive to master.  Or if your drive has a single drive jumper setting it needs to be set to single drive.  SATA ports only accept 1 drive, so you need it to be set to master to properly be recognized.  Then you just run a single SATA data cable from the drive to an open port on the motherboard.

The computer will reference the BIOS to see which drive to boot off of.  If you go into the BIOS you can set the boot priority and tell it which drive to boot from.  That should allow you to finish setting everything up.


For BOB:

Yes you can do USB to IDE.  Unfortunately USB 2.0 peaks at a speed of 480Mbps(which would be a speed of 60 MBps).  Standard PATA runs at a speed of 133MBps, so more than twice as fast.  So while it does work, you aren't taking full advantage of the speed of the drive.

Also, if you were to replace your IDE(PATA) drive with a SATA drive you would see an even bigger performance increase. Sata runs at 3.0 Gbps, which would be 375MBps.  So again much much faster peak transfer speeds.  Depending on what you're trying to do, that may be worth looking into.

[sata]

Hi,

I have a motherboard with 2 SATA connectors and 1 IDE connector. My Windows XP bootable HDD sits on one of the SATA connectors, and I have 2 optical drives (DVD and DVD burner) on IDE.

I wanted to add PATA HDD to the system as a non bootable disk. So I bought IDE to SATA adapter.

http://sewelldirect.com/SerialATAtoIDEConverter.asp?adpath=/Google/Other%20Products/Serial%20ATA%20to%20IDE%20Converter%20(Part%20No:%20%20SW-1615%20)&keywords=serial%20ata%20ide&match=2&search=content&gclid=CPvnro67640CFRhigQodJE2prg

I set my PATA HDD to master, connected power to the adapter (used FDD power cable since I do not have FDD on my system) and the HDD (used spare power plug) as per instructions.

Now, when computer boots it takes extremely long time for it to boot (or enter BIOS setup) - like 5 min. After it boots system can not see my converted PATA HDD (not Windows XP nor BIOS).

In BIOS both PATA and SATA are enabled.

I tested both PATA connectors on my motherboard and they work with standard SATA HDD I have. I also tried to connect optical drive to SATA using the adapter - same result: long boot and no drive can be seen.

If I connect only PATA HDD using the adapter to motherboard's SATA connector (leaving all other disks disconnected) system behaves like there is no HDD or optical disks is connected to the motherboard.

Bottom line - it seems that the adapter is not doing its job.

Please advise what can be done to test the adapter - could it be broken?

Thank you.

sata

[mark]

It is possible that there is a problem with the adatper.  We sell a lot of them and they are typically really reliable, however we have seen some faulty units.  I would recommend returning the adatper for testing and a replacement.

[sata]

Thank you Mark! How do I return it?

sata