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IDE to SATA converter

Bures

ULTIMATE Member
Trying to get an IDE hard drive to work via the SATA connector on my motherboard using a IDE/SATA Converter.

The (chinese) diagram which came with the converter shows:-
(a) SATA cable from motherboard connects to converter on rear of IDE Drive
(b) Case PSU 5 (molex)way power cable slots into a 5 > 2 way adaptor plug which again fits with a small white 2w plug onto rear of converter.

My question is this :- with this setup the 5 way (molex) power socket on the rear of the IDE hard drive is not connected to anything.
Is this correct or should I have a Case PSU 5way power cable plugged into this socket as normal practice.

With the chinese configuration, my drive has not been found on boot-up.
BIOS shows no SATA hdd
 
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The small power connector only supplies power to run the adapter. You must connect the hard drive to a normal molex hard drive connector from the power supply, otherwise the hard drive is getting no power at all.
 
The small power connector only supplies power to run the adapter. You must connect the hard drive to a normal molex hard drive connector from the power supply, otherwise the hard drive is getting no power at all.

Thanks for that, it certainly makes more sense than the Chinese version.
I will give it another go later

alan
 
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Sounds just like one I'm waiting for off eBay HERE.

I hope it's good. I expect a lot for my £1.98p delivered! Lol.

idetosatatoide.jpg
 
Thats the one.
All I got in the way of documentation was a CD label (?) with minimal text and a thumbnail picture of the connections.
One glaring error seems to be no mention of using the Molex 5w connector which is still required to power up the hdd as "Mender" mentions above.

If you do a Google search for "IDA to SATA Connector problems" it comes up with a lot of entries - I wonder how many like me, followed the picture and left of the power plug ??
 
Just an FYI, I've found that older SATA motherboard chips - such as those found on many of AMD's socket 939 and older setups, tend to be pretty rubbish at handling IDE to SATA HD's. In fact they're pretty rubbish at handling SATA by itself :) . So if you have an early gen SATA chip too (don't know if you do) then be aware that they may cause you some problems. Intel's SATA chips seemed to be a lot better.

I couldn't even run a SATA DVD Writer off most of my socket 939 based mobos or older.
 
Tried without success to get this to converter to work. The motherboard is brand new with only one IDE connector. I have used this IDE for the OS hard drive and I am trying to get my second spare IDE drive working via the motherboard Sata connector and converter.
One thing confuses me:
On the converter it`s stamped:
IDE to SATA use ..........................
SATA to IDE use ............................

So which direction are we talking about here ?
Does IDE to SATA mean "IDE on the motherboard and a SATA hard drive" or the other way around ??

I am beginning to think a PCI/IDE card would have been quicker !!
 
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Success at last.
Looking at the spelling on the instruction card "converts sevial ATA to parraller ATA" it made me wonder about the accuracy of the two images showing the lead connection
Sure enough they were incorrect !
One image shows the leads with the converter attached to the IDE hard drive
The other with the converter attached to the IDE motherboard socket.

The captions underneath were incorrect/reversed, when I corrected the leads I can now read the hard drive :)

A new twist on a chinese puzzle !!
 
I'm still waiting for mine, but I thought it was supposed to go both ways?
 
I have an older AMD mobo and have not had any problems with SATA drives, although I DO have continuing problems with some IDE drives in external cases, they are recognised for an hour or two, then nothing !!

While talking about converters, does anyone have a scsi-usb converter they no longer use??
I have an old scsi Epson scanner I really like, but I only have 2 PCI slots and really need to fit something other than the scsi control card currently filling the space (my Draft "N" wifi card (with huge external aerials) fills the other space.
 
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(MENDER) You are dead correct for a bi-directional converter:
It has three sockets:-
1. Power
2. HDD > Motherboard socket
3. Motherboard > HDD socket
The instruction card showed two thumbnail images for the connections to 2 and 3. The caption was reversed, hence I had the plug in the wrong socket.

Another problem to watch out for, the IDE connector supplied is very slim (not full width) compared to a standard IDE connector you would normally use.
Make sure its dead centre and "mates" up with all the pins. As the connector is not full width you can easily get it to fit too far to the left or right totally out of alignment

Again, because the IDE connector is very slim, its also possible to get the "key" on its side to fit the wrong way around.
ie, with the IDE connector upside down

Its works, but with such poor build quality and lack correct instructions, for a novice like me it had plenty of pitfalls.
 
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I'll watch out for all that when (if?) mine arrives.

Good info; thanks.
 
I've had my 2 way adaptor for a while now, but only used it today to clone my internal drive to an old IDE drive outside the box.

I also got myself a SATA to IDE power adator and a 3 way IDE power lead. All works well using a DOS version of Ghost on Hiren's Boot Disc, cloning at approx 1Gb a minute.

I'm very impressed with it for £1.98 delivered. Lol. Pics below.

satatoide1small.jpg



satatoide2small.jpg
 
Did you install this with the computer on or off?

I'm not getting it, but then, I am a complete novice.


Apart from USB, I always connect drives with the PC off.
 
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Just an update on this topic
I have used both types of this converter.
Multidirectional and SATA to IDE

Nothing but spurious problems.
Odd occasions PC will not get past splash boot screen
Unable to power down
Mouse and complete PC freezes
Mouse cursor freezes when using programs like WORD

If you suffer any of the obscure faults then look no further than the converter.
Now disconnected and all is well.
 
Mine's still working fine.

In fact I've gone a stage further and added a 3.5 to 2.5 IDE adaptor which has enabled me to clone my Desktop PC to my Laptop's 2.5 IDE drive. (Picture below.)

I guess there's a lot of luck involved when buying cheap stuff direct from China.

satatoide35to25.jpg
 
Mine's still working fine.

In fact I've gone a stage further and added a 3.5 to 2.5 IDE adaptor which has enabled me to clone my Desktop PC to my Laptop's 2.5 IDE drive. (Picture below.)

I guess there's a lot of luck involved when buying cheap stuff direct from China.



Yes, you are most probably correct, I bought both of mine via Ebay. As I said I then suffered all sorts of spurious problems which had my brain in overdrive. As it was a new build PC I was wondering what component was playing up.
I then came across a customer review for these boards in Amazon where someone else mentioned his PC was freezing. Converter disconnected and all was well.
I had a bi-directional installed which on odd occasions wouldn`t boot up.
I subsequently purchased another single way board and low and behold the PC would totally intermittently freeze. I couldnt even power down unless I dived for the 13a wall switch.
Converter now in junk box and I just ordered a LiteOn SATA DVD drive to replace my IDE drive for £14.00

Anyway, glad to hear your`s is working OK. Just proves one can work OK whilst others can be troublesome
 
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