# Information on EIDE to SATA Converter.



## Deathblow (Oct 7, 2003)

My latest system has 2 SATA and 2 EIDE channels, but I currently have 3 EIDE drives that I want to use in it. I am looking for any information on someone with knowledge or experience in using a converter to connect a EIDE drive to a SATA cable. I have heard that the technololgy might not be reliable.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I have such a connection, AFAIK, there's nothing unreliable about it. I got the adapter free with my ABIT motherboard, and I'm using it in another system, works fine.

I will point out that the converter I got somewhat limits the speed of the hard disk for maximum speed transfers. I have a drive that clocks in at 55mbyte/sec read rates when I run it on an IDE connection, and the SATA<->IDE adapter limits it to 40mbyte/sec. Since I use it as a backup drive for my RAID array, it's not really an issue, but just thought I'd mention that. It's run quite reliable otherwise, just a bit slower than a real SATA drive would be.


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## SirKenin (Nov 17, 2005)

They are also very hard to find now, I might add. To my knowledge nobody makes them anymore, as they were just made by a couple of manufacturers to aid in the transition to SATA.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Originally there were some issues with data corruption with certain drives on certain motherboards. Pretty sure it was on Nforce2 based systems with only Western Digital or Samsung drives but more cases may indeed exist.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Interesting, I guess I dodged those issues.


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## Rukee (Nov 15, 2005)

I have a few of those crazy things somewhere in the spare parts box, never used one myself.
In any case, if all you have is three devices you should be able to put two drives on one IDE channel and a single drive on the second IDE cable.


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## Deathblow (Oct 7, 2003)

Ok, maybe I misused the term when I said I had 2 of each channels, I have 1 cable for EIDE, and one cable for SATA. I can only have 2 of each type of drive. Currently I only have my burner and not my normal DVD drive hooked up as my old EIDE drive is on the cable with burner. If speed is an issue, I could possibly put the DVD drive on the SATA channel to maintain full speed with the EIDE HD. 

Now the other problem is, I've been checking around, and nobody seems to carry these things. When I bought the system, I was aware of this issue, and the salesman assured me that they carry them, but just didn't have any in-stock and I could get one from their web site. Well, he lied. I've tried several other stores, as well as the local computer show, and again, nobody carried this hardware. Does anyone have a link to a reliable source?


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## Bal3Wolf (Dec 13, 2005)

go to pricewatch.com and search for sata to ide
thiers couple places have them but thier not cheap at all i got 1 here i use they work good for me.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/serial-ata-ide-converter.htm

http://www.addonics.com/products/io/adsaide.asp

http://www.cooldrives.com/sata-to-ide.html

http://www.firewire-1394.com/serial-ata-ide-converter.htm


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## Rukee (Nov 15, 2005)

$25.00 each??
I might be sitting on a Gold Mine!


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## Bal3Wolf (Dec 13, 2005)

ya thier not cheap ididnt know trhey cost this much lol its cheaper to buy a pci ide 133 card and just connect stuff to it.


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## Deathblow (Oct 7, 2003)

I had one of those, and had tried that, but because of the Bios only supports 2 ide devices, it wouldn't work.


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## Deathblow (Oct 7, 2003)

JohnWill said:


> http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/serial-ata-ide-converter.htm
> 
> http://www.addonics.com/products/io/adsaide.asp
> 
> ...


Those 2 in the middle look like they are for plugging in a SATA drive right?

That first one looks like it might be good.


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## Bal3Wolf (Dec 13, 2005)

first one is wat i use but its made by abit.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I also have the one that came with my ABIT MB.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Deathblow said:


> Those 2 in the middle look like they are for plugging in a SATA drive right?
> 
> That first one looks like it might be good.


Actually, only the second one is incorrect, I was searching too fast.


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## Deathblow (Oct 7, 2003)

Rukee said:


> $25.00 each??
> I might be sitting on a Gold Mine!


What type do you have Rukee?


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