Need Advice On Switching EIDE HDD To My SATA Sockets

Ex_Brit

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I would like to free up 2 of my 4 IDE spaces on my Intel D865GBF M/B for possible takeover by DVD Burners.
I have 2 SATA sockets free.
If I stick a converter on the back my existing system PATA WD2500 Caviar SE HDD and connect to a SATA socket will I end up with a dead system? (Can always switch it back).
I gather I don't need a RAID array as I wont be using a SATA card.
I suppose before booting all the way up I should select BIOS mode to make sure SATA is activated. Right now, of course, it's there but showing inactive.
Never used SATA before but gather it has benefits, but would the HDD be slowed down by the converter?
I will be buying another HDD soon and will most likely opt for a SATA WD2500KS SE16 and then will endeavour to clone the system disc to it and switch. Then I could use the old one for backups etc.
So I guess the questions are:
1: Can I do it?
2: What do I need to look at first before trying to boot?
3: Will the HDD lose performance?
4: Just wait until I buy another HDD?
 
Don't hold me to this, but as far as i was aware, you can't just "CLONE" or convert a IDE drive and hope it boots, I was always under the impression that windows just won't boot, becuase it dosen't know how to read all the data from a SATA drive, hence why you need your SATA drivers when you install windows onto a RAID or SATA drive.

Don't hold me to it, As long as windows will boot, you will be ok.

Im sure someone here that has greater knowlage or has tried this before will agree or correct me.
 
Thanks XcOM. I double checked my M/B manufacturer's website...Intel...and apparently I would only need the "F6" RAID drivers if I intended to use the drive in a Raid array. (Intel now calls them "Matrix Storage").
I'm not sure where I read this but I believe that XP SP2 has full SATA support and I know my motherboard supports the two SATA ports at least.
Things changed since I posted. I went ahead and bought a SATA HDD (same size as my current one) which I will first install to SATA 0 and then see if Windows detects it. May have to go into BIOS for that, and will definitely have to anyway to set the SATA drive as the boot drive. But that will be after I've used Acronis True Image to clone my current HDD over to it......keeping fingers and toes crossed on that one!!

I just want to free up my IDE slots...I know it's crazy, but there you go.

Guru would know but he's unavailable right now....he has the same M/B as myself.
 
A good idea if you wanted to free up IDE ports is to buy a RAID card, i have one in all but one machine, there so useful.

Personaly i will stick with IDE, theres no messing about with RAID0,1,0+1

IDE is sooooo much easier, i have tried IDE VS SATA, you only se a speed dif when you are playing games or moving large files.
 
Got this email from Intel Support. I had asked them for help as, quite honestly, I was getting totally confused reading various web pages, articles and suchlike, on the subject. I realised that my board is actually a D865GBFL - the L denoting built in LAN (Intel Pro/100) - same difference!! If I want RAID in the future with this machine, I would have to install a RAID card. It's not the speed I'm looking for anyway, just to use my motherboard to its fullest extent.
The reason I wanted to go SATA for the HDD's was that I'm an avid DVD/CD burner so I wanted have 4 assorted burners at my disposal...selfish I know.
SATA CD/DVD burners are still few and far between and the ones that are out there are limited in their abilities.

Hello Peter,

Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.

For your reference, your Email Case Number is: 6831738.

We understand that you would like to connect Serial ATA hard drives to your Intel(R) Desktop Board D865GBF, without setting or worrying about a RAID array.

We inform you that installing RAID along with Serial ATA hard drives is not necessary. Also, bear in mind that RAID is not supported on the Intel(R) Desktop Board D865GBF, therefore this feature cannot be used.

No settings need to be changed to use Serial ATA hard drives, no drivers need to be installed either. Serial ATA hard drives will automatically be detected by Windows* XP (service pack 2 recommended).

Please bear in mind that the operating system does not detect the difference between a Serial ATA and an IDE hard drives, and shows both running at 100 Mb/s, regardless of the kind.

However, you can be sure that the Serial ATA hard drive you have is running at the correct Serial ATA speed, according to the Intel(R) onboard controller (150MB/s).

For more information, please refer to the following website:
http://intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/D865GBF/sb/cs-008984.htm

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you need further assistance.

Sincerely,

Jose Pablo C.
Intel(R) Technical Support

Intel(R) Desktop Board Support Web Site
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/
 
Well I did it. Now I have one 250gb SATA HDD and one IDE 250gb HDD with an adapter to SATA. That made space for 4 assorted CD/DVD/ROM/RAM...burners..you name it!!
 
Congratulations Peter, glad you got that working, let us know what ends up with your machine, I think it's a rarity now, just wish I was there to help... Excellent advice XcOM though.

:smile:
 
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