StarTech.com IDE to SATA Hard Drive or Optical Drive Adapter Converter - 40-Pin PATA to 2.5" SATA HDD / SSD / ODD Converter (IDE2SAT2)

Product Information

SATA drives have an additional feature of Hot plugging which mean that even as the computer is running drives can be removed or added. SATA motherboard: As you know, SATA is the current standard for the connection of hard drive to the motherboard. This is obviously a replacement for the previous IDE connection. It is easily identifiable by the simple plug with only one connection point. SATA motherboards are more likely the present standards and are more efficient, faster, and more stable. Hard drives need a cable/connection for data and one for power. Parallel ATA only allows data cable lengths up to 18 in (457 mm) while SATA allows cable lengths up to 1 m (3.28 ft). eSATA cables can be 2 m in length. USB ports can only deliver so much electricity to power portable HDDs, not regular HDDs. So, you will need to use a separate power adapter. How do I know if my HDD is SATA or IDE? It may require a SATA or SSD driver so a straight “Clone” may not provide you with a bootable drive when you have finished the clone process removed the IDE drive and are trying to boot off the SSD.

SATA took off where ATA stopped as far as speed is concerned. The first generation of SATA was 1.2 Gbit/s (150 MB/s; note that MB is mega bytes and Gb is giga bits) similar to PATA/133. Today the third generation of SATA (3.0) (released on May 27, 2009), 6 Gbit/s (600 MB/s) hard drives and motherboards are being used. Firstly, open the external part of your computer or your computer case to get access to the motherboard and the hard drive connections. You may need a screwdriver or may not need

Then, to the hard drive connection point, attach the free end of the converter cable. Depending on the connection point, sometimes it will be necessary to attach the free end of the cable to the IDE cable.

There are four to six SATA connections usually in a normal motherboard which allows multiple SATA hard drives to hook up. IDE Hard Drive: It is one of the most elements that’s needed. You know by now what IDE is. IDE hard drives are easily identifiable through their pin connection points usually. In most of the cases, the installation is by plugging it into the required component. It is needed to ensure a tight connection. It may even work with a SATA Drive but not a SSD Drive as while these days they are interchangeable in the past they where not always so. Also the hardware always treats IDE Drives as the Default Master Drive and writes the Boot Loaded to that Drive so it’s important after the Clone to remove the IDE Drive before starting the system on the SSD Drive.As for the TRIM I’m really not sure how it would impact with a SSD Drive it really all depends on the ChipSet of the M’Board. I personally feel that you should not ask this question at this moment of reading. After reading the advantages of SATA, you should know it by now why you need to connect to SATA. In modern times, there is no competition of SATA with IDE; SATA is always ahead of IDE. While it is possible to make the necessary changes if drivers are required to run that type of drive it is a lot of messing around. Also if Windows has been loaded for more that 12 months it’s better to do a Clean Install so you can get rid of all the crud that clogs up the Registry.