Drawbacks of SATA to IDE converters?

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x0054

I have 2 250GB ATA 100 drives for the SFF (Small Form Factor) server I am
building. Unfortunately most new SFF motherboards come only with SATA
buses. I am still debating weather to go with an older board or simply get
SATA to IDE converters.

I was wondering, if any of you ever used the SATA to ATA100/133 IDE
converter, is there any performance loss from using the adapter.
Understandably the transfer speed would be limited by the ATA100 interface
on the drive, but are there any further lag or seek delay in using the
adapter vs. regular ATA100/133 buss in the MB.

Thank you,

- Bogdan
 
x0054 said:
I have 2 250GB ATA 100 drives for theSFF (Small Form Factor) server I am
building. Unfortunately most new SFF motherboards come only with SATA
buses. I am still debating weather to go with an older board or simply get
SATA to IDE converters.

I was wondering, if any of you ever used the SATA to ATA100/133 IDE
converter, is there any performance loss from using the adapter.
Understandably the transfer speed would be limited by the ATA100 interface
on the drive, but are there any further lag or seek delay in using the
adapter vs. regular ATA100/133 buss in the MB.

Thank you,

- Bogdan
Click to expand...

No free PCI for an ultra 133 IDE controller?

I'm not sure if I'd trust an converter, especially on a server machine.
 
No free PCI for an ultra 133 IDE controller?

I'm not sure if I'd trust an converter, especially on a server
machine.
Click to expand...

It's got a PCI slot open, but only one :( I need it for a gigabit NIC. I
guess I'll just have to test and see what happens.

- Bogdan
 
I have 2 250GB ATA 100 drives for the SFF (Small Form Factor) server I am
building. Unfortunately most new SFF motherboards come only with SATA
buses. I am still debating weather to go with an older board or simply get
SATA to IDE converters.

I was wondering, if any of you ever used the SATA to ATA100/133 IDE
converter, is there any performance loss from using the adapter.
Click to expand...

About a year ago a dutch magazine did a test on those converters.
They tested 4 or 5 different types.
One came out 'usable but with some limitations'.
The others failed.

There is another reason, in your case (sic), not to travel this
road :-)
In a SFF case you don't want anything that is not strictly
necessary. Anything you put in a SFF case creates heat and
hinders proper cooling.

So, if you want a reliable SFF server on gigabit, go for a board
with native gigabit support. And use drives that match the
controller on your motherboard.
I would even give a second thought to the idea of 2 drives :-)
 
If you decide to buy PATA-SATA converter look for 88-i8030 or JM20330
chipset - they are high end.
 
I have 2 250GB ATA 100 drives for the SFF (Small Form Factor) server I am
building.
Click to expand...

Why are you building a SFF server, or by "SFF" do you mean
1U?

Unfortunately most new SFF motherboards come only with SATA
buses.
Click to expand...

Oh? Which one are you using, and IF it doesn't have PATA,
then why use PATA drives?

I think you're going about this server building process
quite backwards.
I am still debating weather to go with an older board
Click to expand...

What's the server's role?
Fileserver? No need for a *new* board for that, but of
course it'll have to be (roughly) 4 years old or newer to
support 48bit LBA for the 250GB sized drives.
or simply get
SATA to IDE converters.
Click to expand...

Their reliability is suspect, from timing to addt'l
machanical connections dangling off in space and being
pulled on by cabling. The best answer is to avoid them
completely.

I was wondering, if any of you ever used the SATA to ATA100/133 IDE
converter, is there any performance loss from using the adapter.
Click to expand...

No, a mere performance loss would be acceptible but the
potential problems are worse.

Understandably the transfer speed would be limited by the ATA100 interface
on the drive, but are there any further lag or seek delay in using the
adapter vs. regular ATA100/133 buss in the MB.
Click to expand...


I can't believe you're even considering these for a new
server on which you haven't even the motherboard yet.

If you simply MUST buy a board with only SATA, get new
drives or a PCI card. Don't put performance above
reliability long-term on a server. The LAN is usually the
bottleneck or the CPU and memory on certain tasks like
dynamic webpages. Overall though, SFF <> server, SFF = toy.
 
kony said:
Why are you building a SFF server, or by "SFF" do you mean
1U?



Oh? Which one are you using, and IF it doesn't have PATA,
then why use PATA drives?

I think you're going about this server building process
quite backwards.


What's the server's role?
Fileserver? No need for a *new* board for that, but of
course it'll have to be (roughly) 4 years old or newer to
support 48bit LBA for the 250GB sized drives.
Click to expand...
Their reliability is suspect, from timing to addt'l machanical
connections dangling off in space and being pulled on by cabling.
Click to expand...

They dont all do it that way.
 
If you decide to buy PATA-SATA converter look for 88-i8030 or JM20330
chipset - they are high end.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the headsup, fond one with 88-i8030 that looks good.

- Bogdan
 
Why are you building a SFF server, or by "SFF" do you mean
1U?



Oh? Which one are you using, and IF it doesn't have PATA,
then why use PATA drives?

I think you're going about this server building process
quite backwards.


What's the server's role?
Fileserver? No need for a *new* board for that, but of
course it'll have to be (roughly) 4 years old or newer to
support 48bit LBA for the 250GB sized drives.


Their reliability is suspect, from timing to addt'l
machanical connections dangling off in space and being
pulled on by cabling. The best answer is to avoid them
completely.



No, a mere performance loss would be acceptible but the
potential problems are worse.




I can't believe you're even considering these for a new
server on which you haven't even the motherboard yet.

If you simply MUST buy a board with only SATA, get new
drives or a PCI card. Don't put performance above
reliability long-term on a server. The LAN is usually the
bottleneck or the CPU and memory on certain tasks like
dynamic webpages. Overall though, SFF <> server, SFF = toy.
Click to expand...

Well, it is a toy. It's going to be a small server sitting in my
apartment for my personal webpage and to run few random services. I am
not getting a server rack built in a 600sqft apartment :) Just a small
shuttle type box with probably a celeron CPU inside. The converter I
found is well built and has no wire or other dangling off of it. I'll
test the performance and see what happens.

- Bogdan
 
Well, it is a toy. It's going to be a small server sitting in my
apartment for my personal webpage and to run few random services. I am
not getting a server rack built in a 600sqft apartment :) Just a small
shuttle type box with probably a celeron CPU inside. The converter I
found is well built and has no wire or other dangling off of it. I'll
test the performance and see what happens.
Click to expand...


Ok but the "dangling off" means that the adapter itself is
dangling off, of the drive, and the data cable is hanging
off of it.

Are you sure the shuttle box even has enough clearance
behind the drives to fit this adapter inline with them?
 
Ok but the "dangling off" means that the adapter itself is
dangling off, of the drive, and the data cable is hanging
off of it.

Are you sure the shuttle box even has enough clearance
behind the drives to fit this adapter inline with them?
Click to expand...

Yeah all the ones Ive seen are like that.
And as Ive posted Ive been using one since the nforce2 days.
Frankly mine have worked well so I dont have big reservations about
them. However if I had a choice - sure I wouldnt use them.

Until recently there was a huge gap between PATA and SATA.
PATA would be rebated routinely down to 19-29 bucks with bigger and
bigger PATAS falling into that range as time went by. SATAs were far
more expensive even on sale usually $120+ .

Recently however prices have bottomed out on PATA and gone up ! Its
actually rare to find them even at 39-59 though recently there have
been sales again in that higher range the last few weeks but no 19-29.
And they had been featuring 200 giggers last Sept-Dec for 19-29. Now
they tend to be 100-160 giggers at 39-49. And Satas have come down so
now they are often on sale in the 79-89 range so the gap isnt quite as
large.

Mine have worked OK even on my nforce4 now. Ive even raided two patas
in the past on a SATA nforce2 controller pata HDs using the
converters. They worked fine but doing the same on my nforce4 was a
disaster but I dont think it was the converters but who knows.

However that dangling off the end of the HD is a problem. It slips off
easily so often when I close my case I get errors and have to open the
case up again and make sure the converters are tightly on the HDs
which fixes things. They do take up a lot of space. In a small case it
could be a major problem.
 
Ok but the "dangling off" means that the adapter itself is
dangling off, of the drive, and the data cable is hanging
off of it.

Are you sure the shuttle box even has enough clearance
behind the drives to fit this adapter inline with them?
Click to expand...

The one I found in my local store is vertical. It lies parallel to the back
of the HD and takes up almost no space. Looks kind of like this:

http://tekgems.com/images/tn/wo/atamn.jpg

- Bogdan
 
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