Are 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard discs downwards compatible with (simple) IDE/ATA ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Oliver Boswell
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Oliver Boswell

Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with (possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc
inside. Can I replace this old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?

Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features the SerialATA hard disc
slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need to be sure that it is working at all.

Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?

Oliver
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Oliver Boswell said:
Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with
(possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc inside. Can I replace this
old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?
Click to expand...

Not without some serious work with a saw. And the right converter
will be difficult to find and cost extra money.
Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features
the Serial ATA hard disc slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need
to be sure that it is working at all.
Click to expand...

SATA and ATA speeds are not really different.
Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?
Click to expand...

You need a converter. The command set is mostly compatible,
the electical side not at all.

Arno
 
Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with (possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc
inside. Can I replace this old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?

Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features the SerialATA hard disc
slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need to be sure that it is working at all.

Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?
Click to expand...

Fixed improper use of "Follow-Up" so that people could properly
reply/follow the thread/replies.
 
Oliver said:
Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with (possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc
inside. Can I replace this old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?

Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features the SerialATA hard disc
slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need to be sure that it is working at all.

Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?

Oliver
Click to expand...

At the http://www.topmicrousa.com/ser-ata-ada-wnc.html they sell a
small adaptor that plugs into a standard (3.5 inch type) male IDE
port, accepts an internal SATA cable, and does all necessary signal
translation to fool the computer and drive. However, about an inch,
long and can't be connected to a (female) IDE cable, so there is likely
not enough room in the case to install it, or at least that has been my
experience on the several times I was tempted to try this out. So I
can't say I know it will work, but I think someone handy making cables
could make it so.

I found this on froogle.com - but be carefull - 90% of vendors of
IDE-SATA adaptors don't actually say which end is the computer and
which the drive and my guess is that most are intended to connect a
cd-rom drive to an SATA MB connector, and so won't help you at all.

Daniel Feenberg
 
Oliver said:
Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with
(possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc inside. Can I replace this
old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5" Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?

Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features
the SerialATA hard disc
slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need to be sure that it is
working at all.

Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?

Oliver
Click to expand...

No. It won't work. The cables are entirely different and one will not plug
in where the other one was.
Also SATA has to have its own controller; the IDE controllers cannot
handle SATA.

IDE/EIDE/ATA are nothing like SATA, as similar as they sound. SATA is a
serial data cable of, I think, 7 conductors as opposed to the 37 or whatever
it is in the others. The power connector is different too, as there has
been a new voltage added to the drive. The good SATA drives will still work
with either the old or the new connectors, but ... not necessarily. Do NOT
buy a SATA drive unless you have a SATA controller and connection scheme
already available.

HTH
Pop`
 
The question is so poorly written (grammar) that I can't understand what
you are asking.

SATA and IDE are totally incompatible as far as internal use in a
laptop; a laptop can take one or the other, but never both. Regardless
of which is used, however, you can connect an external USB drive to the
laptop (you may not be able to boot from it, but you can connect it and
access it). External USB cases are available for both SATA and IDE, and
a very few external cases may have a dual interface to support either
drive type.
 
Oliver Boswell said:
Assume I have a notebook resp. an external hard disc device with
(possibly) an 2,5" IDE/ATA only hard disc
inside. Can I replace this old IDE/ATA hard disc with a new 2,5"
Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disc ?

No.

Ok, if the hardware environment does not support Serial-ATA features the
SerialATA hard disc
slows down to the ATA-only speed. But I need to be sure that it is working
at all.

Or are ATA and Serial-ATA hard discs totally incompatibe ?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
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