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PATA to SATA adapter

5

5050

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2009
180
2
Hi,

I'm looking for a good SATA to PATA adapter to connect a SATA HDD to my bottom optical bay of my MacPro2,1.

Looking for a suggestion from someone who's successfully installed this adaptor in their PATA-based Mac Pro system, as I've read a few rather disastrous results like fried hard drives.

Much appreciated!

Jonathan
 
Can't you just use one of the two SATA ports on the motherboard, or have you used those already?
 
I don't think you understand. There are two unused SATA ports on the riser board that have nothing to do with the four SATA drive trays, located as MyMac1976 says, near the PCIe fan assembly. There are pictures here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/mac_pro_ext_sata_case_kit.html

He's using the SATA ports for external drives, but mostly I wanted to show the location.

If you want to use a SATA drive in the optical bay, the thing to do is use a Molex to SATA power adapter in the optical bay and run a normal SATA cable from the drive to the motherboard. Then you don't have to worry about an el-cheapo PATA-to-SATA adapter ruining anything.
 
ActionableMango said:
I don't think you understand. There are two unused SATA ports on the riser board that have nothing to do with the four SATA drive trays, located as MyMac1976 says, near the PCIe fan assembly. There are pictures here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/mac_pro_ext_sata_case_kit.html

He's using the SATA ports for external drives, but mostly I wanted to show the location.

If you want to use a SATA drive in the optical bay, the thing to do is use a Molex to SATA power adapter in the optical bay and run a normal SATA cable from the drive to the motherboard. Then you don't have to worry about an el-cheapo PATA-to-SATA adapter ruining anything.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this!
 
Tesselator said:
Any will work. None will fry your HDD. If someone said that, they lied, it's BS.
Click to expand...

Just because its not likely to happen doesn't mean that its not possible for it to happen or that it hasn't already happened, albeit rarely. For one to state as fact that none of the adapters will fry a HDD seams a much more absurd statement given how unlikely it is for one person to have thoroughly inspected and tested all of the IDE to SATA adapters. Especially all of the cheap Chinese knock offs.
 
brand said:
Just because its not likely to happen doesn't mean that its not possible for it to happen.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's about as likely as flying butt-monkeys! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a RAM module blowing up my LCD monitor! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a dime interacting with your body chemistry and causing you to internally combust! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a race of super-tall blue people living in the trees on a Planet named Pandora. Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

Or even that it can't be imagined. But gimme a break, it just a'int gonna happen! It's a sad day when common sense is labeled "absurd"!
 
crjackson2134 said:
please stop making fun of my people! We do exist! You have offended us blue-toothlings!
Click to expand...

400px-LOL_WUT_IRL.jpg
 
Last edited:
Tesselator said:
Yeah, it's about as likely as flying butt-monkeys! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a RAM module blowing up my LCD monitor! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a dime interacting with your body chemistry and causing you to internally combust! Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

It's about as likely as a race of super-tall blue people living in the trees on a Planet named Pandora. Sure, it doesn't mean that it's not possible at all.

Or even that it can't be imagined. But gimme a break, it just a'int gonna happen! It's a sad day when common sense is labeled "absurd"!
Click to expand...

Hey! Wait a minute! I did have a dime interact with my body chemistry, but I didn't combust, I **** nickels...Change for a dime anyone?
 
Back to the topic, Putting a SATA drive of any kind on that PATA would seriously hobble it. I think the speed is around 133Mhz.

You would be better off with this.
 
It's better maybe but the latest versions of Parallel ATA support 133 MByte/s with a cycle time of 15ns. That pretty much covers the entire speed gradient a single SSD would be useful for. Especially when booting the OS or starting applications - which IMO is all a single SSD is actually useful for. :p
 
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