IDE-SATA Adaptor

Shakey_Jake33 · Jan 22, 2006, 09:37 AM

I have one of these adaptors to plug an IDE HDD into an SATA, came with my motherboard.

http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/uk/mult...+to+Serial+ATA

Now, I assumed it was just a physical adaptor, and I wouldn't get SATA speeds... but the page seems to imply otherwise, the way they go on about 'Upgrade your HardDisk', and going on about the bandwidth. Am I reading this right? Does it actually get SATA speeds from an old IDE drive? Or is it just creative wording?

Matth · Jan 22, 2006, 09:50 AM

Doesn't upgrade speed, though it can upgrade efficiency over a pair of drives sharing one IDE. Always a good idea, if you are re-using an IDE hard drive and the motherbord IDEs are already occupied by an optical drive each, to put the hard drive on a SATA adapter.

You can also use them with DVD-ROM, but I'd avoid using them with a writer, as it's a rather unknown area for notoriously finicky writing software.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 22, 2006, 12:06 PM

It will probably add overhead.

Technically you will get SATA150 speeds from your mobo to that adapter but from the adapter to the device you get ATA133/100 speeds whatever the drive supports.

In actuality it won't matter as I've yet to see a single hard drive that can saturate the bandwidth of ATA100 by itself. The mechanics of hard drives and ODD's are the slowest point so really that adapter just serves to get rid of IDE cables