SATA > IDE adapter tested

[alenppc]

I bought this item, it is a SATA > IDE adapter that attaches to the back of a HDD/CD drive and allows it to be connected to a normal IDE interface. So I tried it with a 60 GB SATA 2.5" drive that I took out of the PlayStation3 and plugged it into the A4000... and it works brilliantly!

The transfer speed is pretty much at the limit of the A4000 interface, some 3 mb/sec according to SysInfo, for what it's worth.

Not bad.

[alexh]

Yes, most PATA->SATA adapters work fine with the Amiga even though it's PATA interface is a very early ATA0. I've used at least two with different bridge chips.

However they are not widely used because the PATA->CF bridges are about the same price and a CF card uses less electricity, produces less heat and no noise.

[Mrs Beanbag]

could be useful for optical drives though?

[source]

Dumb question, but can you is there a way to hook a sata dvdrom to the amiga where the audio can be patched into the cdrom audio on the 4000 motherboard or the cdrom port on the delfina?

[videofx]

Thanks, just bought one for my 4000T to replace my failing SCSI cdrom

[alexh]

Take care. most of these don't support ATAPI

[alenppc]

Hmm, you're right, the manual does not specifiy anything about optical drives. Actually it is very vague, it just mentions "SATA drives" without specifiying if that refers to HDD or DVD. But shouldn't it work anyways with atapi.device?

[Arnie]

This one here definately works for sata dvd

[videofx]

I will test it with my my SATA blueray drive and if it doesn't work it goes back

[alexh]

Originally Posted by alenppc

But shouldn't it work anyways with atapi.device?

No. ATAPI is a different protocol to ATA. It has totally different sector sizes. The adapter will have to have extra hardware and firmware to support ATAPI

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by alexh

Yes, most PATA->SATA adapters work fine with the Amiga even though it's PATA interface is a very early ATA0. I've used at least two with different bridge chips.

However they are not widely used because the PATA->CF bridges are about the same price and a CF card uses less electricity, produces less heat and no noise.

Agreed, but unfortunately even with the CF adapters you still need to power them (usually using a floppy power connector) which sucks, especially if you have to add a splitter power cable 4-pin molex to floppy...just takes up extra space in your case :-/

The only one where I haven't had to use power is a slim CD adapter (which is linked in this thread). I use one of those on my A4000 and it doesn't need power.

[videofx]

I get my SATA to IDE tomorrow and will post my findings

[alexh]

Originally Posted by DarrenHD

Agreed, but unfortunately even with the CF adapters you still need to power them

Erm, the power is for the drive (CF card) not the adapter. The adapters are 100% passive. They have no chips and need no power.

All PATA->SATA adapters on the other hand have chips and so need their own power plus drive power.

Originally Posted by DarrenHD

The only one where I haven't had to use power is a slim CD adapter

If your Slim CD adapter is passive and needs no power (unlike most which do!) then the drive (CD) must have it's own power. Just like the CF card needs power. You can't get away with bus powered drives. Certainly not a CD!

The adapter like linked above is not a SlimCD adapter. Its a 44pin PATA->SATA adapter suitable only for A1200/A600 where the IDE connector has extra power pins. Not suitable for A4000

You can get 44pin IDE->CF card adapters with no additional power inputs too!

[alenppc]

I have a low-power CF Card that actually works with the adapter without plugging in the power supply cable! So it somehow powers itself up from the bus. If you change it and plug in a, say, SanDisk card, then it no longer works (without the power cable).

[José]

Hi guys. Maybe this thread can be used to report other adapters tested ? I have recently bought this one:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4004703382...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

This f*#* thing gave me a lot of trouble and I lost a whole bunch of time with it.

--On an A1200 with 3.1 ROMS--
With the jumper on the HDD light stays allways on. Tried both connector orientations (I thought maybe they messed up the wiring...) with same results. With jumper off the A1200 behaves differently, it goes right off to the Kickstart insert floppy disk image, as if one of those KillIDE adapters were there.
-- On a PegasosII--
Doesn't work with the jumper but without it it works!!!

So if anyone was considering this now you know...
Hopefully it's not the IDE interface of my A1200, I haven't used it for some years
I'm now considering either testing another adapter or getting a different IDE HDD.

By the way, if I decided to go for the HDD were the latest IDE HDDs tested for ATA PIO 0 mode or whatever that was ?! Or I incur the risk of having problems too...

Cheers

[José]

Maybe it would work on a buffered interface, if my memory serves me well, the A1200 IDE interface was not buffered, but didn't that matter only when using more than one device ?

[Jope]

It's more a total ide chain length thing. The buffers help drive longer cables.

[K.C.Lee]

I bought one from DX.com for testing. Tested it on my PC with an old 10GB drive got about 35MB/s on my current PC with SATA3. The adapter only does SATA1. I didn't have any newer EIDE drives lying around for testing. I also tested SATA HDD on old PIII motherboard too. Works fine too.

The one I have has the JM20330 chip and can do IDE->SATA I or the other way around. Got a switch on it even though they are really a no-no for 1.5Gbps signal integrity. According to the datasheet, it supports the usual ATA and ATAPI instruction set with only a few instructions missing.

Don't currently have any working Amiga to test.

[José]

@K.C.Lee

I think testing on an Amiga is necessary because look at the one I bought.. Although it's a super cheap chinese piece of junk it actually works great on my Peg2 which obviously has a more modern interface.

@Jope
I used a very short 44pin HD cable (like originally used internally with HDD's in the A1200) so I doubt it's the cable length. Although thinking about it the adapter itself, which piggy backs on the back of the HDD occupying practically no space, probably consumes some energy too but I don't think it consumes that much and I'm using an A500 60W PSU anyway...

[Jope]

If you have a short ide cable between the device and the motherboard, then signal buffers do not really make much of a difference. The adapter is probably quite light on current consumption.