IDE to SATA Adpater

Try to buy one that is fully enclosed in plastic and not just a bare board, less chance of an errant contact.
 
why not get it through ncix, tiger, or newegg among others? I have seen very low cost models from lots of different makers, and at least you`ll know its brand new in its proper packaging :)
 
I've bought a quite a few of them and they work fine (dont get the ones that come out and then turn at 90 degrees, I had one of those short out because i bumped the case and it thouched the drive) though the speeds on them aren't great at all. I think I got like 15-30mbs tops out of them.
 
I ordered one (probably not the same brand) from a large online retailer, it arrived from another retailer's RMA department. Bootup emitted a burning electronic smell. The motherboard etc was alright, but the hard disk lost. Luckily (it was my main drive) I had done a backup a few hours before. Lost several days and many dollars to restore it.
 
I have a similar post over in the General Hardware forum. I was looking for a way to convert an older external HD enclosure from IDE to SATA so that I can use it for a larger 2TB backup drive. I've looked at a few different adapters while trying to determine if it's worth doing money wise.

I have to check on the exact measurements, but if I end up trying to switch the enclosure for a SATA drive I'll prob go with this adapter.

Just my $.02
 
dar124 said:
I have a similar post over in the General Hardware forum. I was looking for a way to convert an older external HD enclosure from IDE to SATA so that I can use it for a larger 2TB backup drive. I've looked at a few different adapters while trying to determine if it's worth doing money wise.

I have to check on the exact measurements, but if I end up trying to switch the enclosure for a SATA drive I'll prob go with this adapter.

Just my $.02
Click to expand...

If the external enclosure you are trying to convert is connected via USB or Firewire, a lot of the older enclosure chipsets don't deal well with large drives, so you might not be able to support a larger drive. I would suggest buying a new enclosure entirely.
 
but if he is planning on changing the adapter itself, then that wont matter now will it :p but no seriously, I see where mwroobel is going with this. If you are trying to "convert" an external from one adapter type to another, and try to use it natively, i.e trying to use a non usb adapter with a usb enclosure, you will have issues, and something else to possibly keep in mind, alot of newer harddrives are either pre configured or have jumpers for 4k sector alignment, make sure you take this into account, as if the adapter in question does not act as a simple passthrough type device and instead is a legacy type adapter with some odd chip for communicaitons, this might pose an issue if you use it beyond what it is capable of.

I say you just get whatever adapter you need, use the same enclosure, and if you really need to, mod the enclosure itself, its usually far cheaper to buy the adapter then it is to buy a good quality enclosure with the same adapter in it. Most of the usb3-esata type enclosure I see(as an example) the better quality ones are like $60 or so, where the adapters themselves or the bare pcb are only like $10, no brainer here, that is if you don`t mind modding the enclosure a bit.
 
An IDE enclosure will have molex power and a modern SATA drive will have SATA power. The adapters we're discussing here only deal with data and not power so there is no simple way to convert an enclosure.
 
good point asema, although my brother has a sata hard drive that has a molex AND sata power port, on or the other can be used, though it very much is an older model, I believe a WD.
 
mwroobel said:
dar124 said:
I have a similar post over in the General Hardware forum. I was looking for a way to convert an older external HD enclosure from IDE to SATA so that I can use it for a larger 2TB backup drive. ...
Click to expand...
If the external enclosure you are trying to convert is connected via USB or Firewire, a lot of the older enclosure chipsets don't deal well with large drives, so you might not be able to support a larger drive.
Click to expand...
That's an excellent warning--something easily overlooked. In this particular case, though, it doesn't apply. I (cheated, and) tracked down his orig post. The drive/enclosure is a USB2-IDE with a >>200GB<< drive. So the bridge chip is not one which is vulnerable to the 28-bit LBA addressing limitation (which forces a maximum addressibility of 128GiB/137GB).

Nevertheless, a new (a la carte [driveless]) enclosure is still the wise move. First, USB2 is going to be tedious for 2TB of backup (>= 18 hours) vs. USB3 or eSATA (<= 6 hours). Also, cascading of bridges (USB2->IDE/IDE->SATA) would concern me, especially for a backup solution, where error-reporting is crucial, and might not be handled well by "dueling bridges".

On the general subject of IDE-SATA bridges, that nice-looking, all-enclosed StarDirect/Syba one seems ideal for throwing in your "toolbox" just in case. Its bi-/goes-both-ways feature "sounds" versatile, but if you have a specific problem situation, you should focus on a specific solution. Even then, don't count on the first attempt to work. These things just aren't designed (or implemented) with the same rigor as the individual standards alone (IDE, SATA [ie, ATA]).

As an (admittedly obscure) example, I do hot-swapping of IDE drives (using old generic [Genica 210]) mobile racks/trays). What makes it work cleanly is having the IDE appear to the OS's (WinXP/7, *nix) as SATA, by using a bridge board. But, the only bridge chip I have found that functions properly for hot-swap is the SiI3811. Even though I've never had one fail (out of 3 in use), I still have two spares because I know that they will go from scarce to unavailable real soon.

Another (less obscure) example is people still using older (Series 1 & 2) TiVos, and wanting to use SATA drives in place of IDE. Only certain chips/boards work in certain model TiVos, often with further fussiness from certain SATA drives. (Note that every/all IDE drives work properly in these TiVos).

Someone else can relate their horror tales of getting ATAPI (optical) drives bridged properly.
 
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