Need IDE / SATA Help!

[ThunderAeroI]

I have a new Mobo coming to replace a burnt one, and the new one only has 1xIDE port and 1xFDD port. It has 5xSATA ports.

My computer has: 1xDVD drive (IDE), 2xHDD (IDE), 1xFDD (FDD)

I need a way to convert the SATA ports to IDE ports so I can drive the DVD drive, and leave the HDD on the IDE. My old board had two IDE ports.

I did a quick search on google for SATA to IDE convertor cables, but they all seem to go in the opposite direction as a SATA drive to an IDE port. I need to go from a SATA port to an IDE drive.

 

[Rii]

Buy a new HDD/SSD or Blu-Ray drive.

 

[farmkid]

SATA and IDE are completely different beasts. I don't think it's possible to simply convert from one to the other with a cable. You will need to either replace one of your drives with a SATA model, or buy a IDE controller card. You can buy a IDE controller card or a SATA DVD burner for about the same cost ($20-30) at Newegg. Or, if your hard drives aren't very large, you could take the opportunity to upgrade to a larger, faster hard drive. In yesterday's email from Newegg, they advertised a 500GB drive for $40 and a 800GB drive for $50.

 

[Iasius]

Some (many, most?) IDE controller cards do not support ATAPI, ie they support hard disks only, not DVD drives.

Something to keep in mind.

 

[Marc]

SATA and IDE are completely different beasts. I don't think it's possible to simply convert from one to the other with a cable. You will need to either replace one of your drives with a SATA model, or buy a IDE controller card. You can buy a IDE controller card or a SATA DVD burner for about the same cost ($20-30) at Newegg. Or, if your hard drives aren't very large, you could take the opportunity to upgrade to a larger, faster hard drive. In yesterday's email from Newegg, they advertised a 500GB drive for $40 and a 800GB drive for $50.

you can also get IDE to SATA adapters

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...4&cm_re=sata_converter-_-12-232-004-_-Product

(should be available through Newegg's U.S store)

But at the prices for the new drives mentioned you're much much better off going the new drive path - they'll be quicker and quite possibly much larger capcity for next to nix.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Is there some reason you can't get a USB enclosure for the DVD drive and hook it up that way?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

There are IDE cables with at least 2 connectors. That would take care of the 2 HDD's you have.

 

[Marc]

There are IDE cables with at least 2 connectors. That would take care of the 2 HDD's you have.

Hands up all those who'd forgotten about master/slave for IDE drives

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

There are IDE cables with at least 2 connectors. That would take care of the 2 HDD's you have.

Hands up all those who'd forgotten about master/slave for IDE drives

Or "cable select".

 

[Marc]

There are IDE cables with at least 2 connectors. That would take care of the 2 HDD's you have.

Hands up all those who'd forgotten about master/slave for IDE drives

Or "cable select".

Was cable select ever that reliable? I can't recall ever trying it.

 

[Rii]

You don't really want to use two HDDs as Master/Slave as then they're both sharing the same 133MB/sec channel. How much that matters depends on what you use that second HDD for, of course.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Hands up all those who'd forgotten about master/slave for IDE drives

Or "cable select".

Was cable select ever that reliable? I can't recall ever trying it.

I utilized it at some point and don't remember any problems. I think the connector in the middle was "first" and the end one was "second",
thus causing you to have to twist the cable and bring it back on itself to get to the second drive.

It's been around 10 years though.

I think if the OP has some budget, he should probably rebuild anyway. Bigger is better after all.

My beef if the lack of an FDD connection on the newer motherboards, though the need for copying something off a 3.5" is extremely rare. I'm just a little old fashioned

 

[Marc]

Or "cable select".

Was cable select ever that reliable? I can't recall ever trying it.

I utilized it at some point and don't remember any problems. I think the connector in the middle was "first" and the end one was "second",
thus causing you to have to twist the cable and bring it back on itself to get to the second drive.

It's been around 10 years though.

I think if the OP has some budget, he should probably rebuild anyway. Bigger is better after all.

My beef if the lack of an FDD connection on the newer motherboards, though the need for copying something off a 3.5" is extremely rare. I'm just a little old fashioned

It's probably getting to the point where there's no room on the boards between all the SATA ports, heat pipes etc etc compounded with the increase in popularity of M-ATX. There's probably also a cost reduction both the board and chipset makers.

Think my most recent use for a floppy drive was loading drivers to install Windows XP (was so nice when Vista introduced the ability to use USB drives as a driver source).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ The last board I had with an FDD connection was only a couple years old.

The current board is the same size & brand.

More likely they figure there's no more need for it.

 

[Marc]

^ The last board I had with an FDD connection was only a couple years old.

The current board is the same size & brand.

More likely they figure there's no more need for it.

But also if the chipset makers drop the support for there's no place to wire the connector to.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

^ The last board I had with an FDD connection was only a couple years old.

The current board is the same size & brand.

More likely they figure there's no more need for it.

But also if the chipset makers drop the support for there's no place to wire the connector to.

My new board roughly have 5xsata, 1x FDD, 1x IDE, 2xPCI,1xPCIE

So thats ruffly (2x15)+5 = 35 SATA connections, 2 IDE Drives, 2xFDD