SATA drive on IDE port with adapter

macnab · 16 Jun 2010

All the other problems seem to be the other way around.

My 2 DVD writers are on the primary IDE port. Had 2 x 80GB HDD's on the 2 SATA ports. Upgraded 2nd HDD to 320GB. No problems. Decided to use left-over 80GB HDD as backup disk. Installed an adapter. Plugged into secondary IDE port on motherboard. Did CMOS changes.

Booting up has three (seemingly random) results:
1. Boots up normally
2. Boots, but takes 6 minutes from "Starting Windows" to password screen
3. Never gets past "Starting Windows". This is the most common.

When it boots up normally I can use the drive. Formatted it. Changed label. Did system image.

Anybody had any success doing this?

Later edit: Tried with PCI SATA adapter and that works 100%.

Zant · 16 Jun 2010

is Sata <-> IDE adapter set to master/slave or cable select? may help

fishnbanjo · 16 Jun 2010

There is a chance your PSU is being taxed since it appears you had quite a bit of power required based on your specs. You might consider an external powered IDE to USB enclosure and feed it with a USB port. This will alleviate some of the power drain on your PSU.

macnab · 16 Jun 2010

No jumpers/settings on adapter.

Seeing as it works 100% using a PCI card instead of the adapter it seems it is not the PSU. But something to keep in mind, with 3 HDD's and 2 DVD writers.

It could be something to do with the fact that the motherboard is fairly old - only takes DIMM's, so it is almost cheaper to get a new motherboard than another 1GB of RAM! Maybe 2 SATA's, 2 drives on primary IDE and a fake IDE drive on the secondary IDE confuses it.