IDE to SATA connector

Hi all,

I just got a new MoBo and CPU. There's only one IDE connector, but there's two SATA connectors.

My two drives are both Maxtor, but, one is PATA and one is ATA. Both have different capacities. I also have a CD-RW and a DVD-RW.

I need an IDE to SATA connector and I was wondering if anyone had an opinion or suggestion on which I should hook up to the connector: My IDE drives or my optical drives? I hardly use the CD\DVD. And, would there be any advantage to using the IDE to SATA on my hard drives?

 

Did you mean one is PATA and one is SATA? Understand that PATA = ATA = Parallel ATA = IDE = EIDE.

There is no advantage to using IDE to SATA adapters, except you get to keep using the older style drives.

It seems odd you only have 2 SATA connectors. Are you sure there are not at least 2 more? What is the make and model number of the board?

You want to convert your one IDE connector to SATA? I don't think that's what you want, or need. I think what you need, if you want to use IDE drives, is a PCI to IDE Card.

But, I would verify the number of the SATA connections you have first. And evaluate your needs. Understand that DVD drives are able to read CDs. Most DVD-RW are also able to burn CDs. So do you really need two optical drives? And what type are your opticals? IDE or SATA?

Note that you can connect two IDE drives to one IDE cable and one motherboard connector. So it seems to me you can connect your SATA HD to one of the SATA ports, and your IDE HD plus the DVD to the IDE connector - and retire the CD. Then you don't have to buy a thing.

 

Hi Bill,

OK, in no particular order:

Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2, REV:1.0. CPU is: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Multi-Core, Socket AM3.

No. The label on one drive says, "PATA 'Ultra ATA'" and the other one says, "ATA\133 ". They're both IDE. I don't have any SATA drives "” hence my questions.

Positive. I'm looking at it right now. Two SATA and one IDE; plus a floppy.

That's what I'm trying to find out "” whether there would be any advantage to using an IDE to SATA connector to hookup my Maxtor drives and hookup my optical drives to the IDE connector "” or vice-versa. And, I have a PCI\IDE card that I know I can use, but the MoBo only has 2 PCI slots.

I just thought of something: Since I have two IDE drives, would I have to get two adapters, one for each HDD, to hook them up as SATA? Or is there such an animal as a dual IDE to SATA connector?

Uh, no, I really don't need two. My tower has three 5¼ bays: One is CD; one is DVD; and one is my CPU\Case temperature thermometers. Both optical drives are IDE. Also, my tower is very old and I lost the coverings for the holes.

 

Well, I confirm you only have 2 SATA ports.

The one IDE connector will support two IDE drives, a master and a slave.

So you have a couple choices. You can buy one of those cards I linked to earlier. Or you can buy two of these SATA to IDE adapters, or you can buy a new SATA Optical Drive.

I've no experience with the SATA to IDE adapters so don't know if I could trust them. If me, I would buy a new SATA optical drive.

 

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the info. I found there's no such thing as a dual adapter — just one at a time. Also, buying 2 of the beasts + cables is gonna run me about $40. I can buy a 500GB SATA drive for just $10 more.

I think I'm just going to use my PCI IDE card for my CD\DVD drives and put all this behind me.

Thanks, again, for weighing in, Bill.

 

Hello
Check out a site txmicro.com they had some of these for about $10.00 ea
Will

 

Hi Will,

Thanks for the info. It looks like the site is for older stuff, but there's some good bargains.