SATA to IDE Converter

Oberg · **20th May 2008, 04:57 PM**

I have a SATA HDD that I would like to use in my MCE 2005 rig but the motherboard is IDE only. I've seen a number of different SATA to IDE Converters on the web and thought this may be a cheap easy way to be able to use my SATA drive but I'm wondering how well these converters work and if they slow the transfer of data down at all or create any other problems. It would be the only drive in the system and as such have the operating system installed on it. What do you think is this a good option or not? Any ideas/comments would be appreciated.

Oberg.

logifuse · **20th May 2008, 05:17 PM**

I find them fine for the odd file transfer, but I wouldn't use one for a fixed drive. PCI SATA cards are very cheap - I'd go that way.

Justin

Oberg · **20th May 2008, 05:37 PM**

Something like this http://www.westontech.com.au/pdf/PDF_S3512_10003_1.pdf
Would the drive be seen during a fresh install of windows or would the drivers need to be installed before or during install?

Oberg.

logifuse · **20th May 2008, 06:06 PM**

Yep, that's the exact model I normally use when I need one.

I think Vista will install automatically if you don't configure RAID mode. You needed a floppy disk for that card when installing XP, but I think Vista has the inbuilt drivers.

Justin

Oberg · **20th May 2008, 06:16 PM**

Thanks Justin I'll go for one of those and the difference in price between the PCI card and the converter is only $6.00.

Oberg.

logifuse · **22nd May 2008, 12:05 PM**

Oberg,

I put one of these cards in an exisitng Vista machine this morning (the system is running on an IDE drive & I'm using the card to add SATA drives for storage). The bad news is that it needed to download the drivers off the net (through the "should I search online for drivers?" dialogue), so that probably means you will need to load drivers when you install Vista as it didn't seem to have any inbuilt ones for it.

Justin