Thoughts on SATA - IDE adapters (2.5")?

Hi,

I have been handed some 2.5" SATA SSDs I'd love to see running in a PowerPC Mac (a Twentieth Anniversary Mac that takes a 2.5" IDE HD with room to place an adapter). On similar era Macs I've tried MSATA to IDE adapters and different drives, they didn't work very well with compatibility issues.

A few years ago I got some StarTech SATA to IDE adapters and they plain didn't work, they were reportedly only for optical drives.

Any recommendations on adapters to look for, success rates?

This is one I found and assume they all have the same chipset:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4024759...1LrNfp+WNnDn6Zwl/rBkH+Uegvuc|tkp:BFBMjKnq7ZRg

Thanks

JB

 

I personally use IDE to CF adapters for computers that were originally IDE only. They use the same block addressing, so there's no real chance of incompatibility in my experience (in my case, Amiga computers).

Besides that, you won't get anywhere near the transfer speeds those SSD's are capable of anyway. Use them for something else like server boot drives or the like.

 

Thanks Hyrax - I've tried IDE to CF adapters with greater success in older devices, for this purpose I was hoping for a bit more grunt (using a Kingston 120GB SATA SSD in place - a 128GB CF card for this Mac is a fair bit of coin).

Might as well try the $10 adapter and see how it goes.

 

But do you need 128GB in a Mac that old? They originally shipped with 2GB drives!

 

Yep! Entire MP3 music collection + CD images of games, doesn't take much at all to fill (mostly transferred through a SCSI2SD external adapter). This Mac also serves as a bit of a file server for older/more limited Macs.

 

I have tried 3 different adapters and they all work without issues but the chip on them seems to get pretty hot so make sure it has good airflow over it. I have one 'flattish' model like the one in your eBay link that is used in a fat PS2. I also have one that looks like this model: SATA To Pata IDE Converter Adapter Plug&Play 7+15 Pin 3.5/2.5 Sata HDD D JM20330 | eBay and I've tested that with a P3 and Pentium Pro setup. I also have a third one that I got from uMart which was quite different from the eBay adapters and cost a fair bit more and works in either direction. I've only tested it in IDE controller -> SATA disk mode.

Edit: I recall that Badmofo used one in his 'Cyrix Instead' build and wrote, "I'm not going back".

 

I did! Still loving on mine but it's StarTech branded which you mentioned (OP) that you've tried before and they didn't work. Not sure about that, I haven't tried them in a machine older than my Socket 7 PC.

I used CF adapters for ages and they were fine, but as mentioned elsewhere recently I did have some manged files from time-to-time, and the SSD is so nice a quick.

This is what mine looks like for what it's worth:

 

OK, I get the CD images, but MP3's? Why not store them on a regular server since you have network connectivity?

And if Windows won't work as a regular server with older authentication, just build a simple Linux box for it and Samba it instead.

Otherwise, go and get that adapter and see what happens. It's pretty cheap at the end of the day.

 

I have a spare unit I'd be happy to post over mate
Unknown chipset, someone here may recognise it ??
It's IDE mobo to sata HDD only and needs the floppy psu connector to power it up

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=5436.0

Let me know and I'll post it over freebie

 

I have used a bunch of the StarTech red Marvell chipset ones like badmofo on original xboxs and various old PCs without issue (all with Samsung SSDs), from what I understand they are highly recommended. Unfortunately I don't have any old Macintoshes though, so no experience there I'm afraid.

 

There's some other advantages to SSD. The latency is nice compared to spindle (bandwidth is only half the story when it comes to how a system feels, as modern spindle drives can far exceed the bandwidth of old IDE systems, but the seek times aren't so great), and the SSD's controller means write wear leveling that you don't get with CF.

I also use CF for systems where I don't need a lot of space, and the IO is low. Anything that's write heavy (and a lot of old OSes like to pepper the disk with small writes just booting up), or I want the space, then SSD is a pretty good option.

 

hutts24 - thanks, I've ordered what looks like the same thing - fan is nearby in the case to keep adapter cool

badmofo - that's it, green one on way

HyRax1 - having a big HD on such a Mac is a dream - and if I can do it cooler, quieter and faster, win!

MUTMAN - thanks mate, that's the one I have that didn't work (or looked very similar), so will pass but appreciate your offer

I'll post back results. My experience in later PowerPC Macs and SSDs is that MSATA to IDE adapters hit compatibility issues - drive not seen, drive seen but partition not valid, data corruption etc - this is just another cheapo thing to try.

 

I've got a ide2sata in my iLamp 20 inch. Absolutely unbelievable what difference a modern data drive makes to the usability of these things.. zero issues btw.. I always have a bunch of elcheapo ide2sata adaptors at hand. They are great.

 

Oh damn I just ordered a couple of the sata to ide adaptors and I didnt think to look at the chipset. I went for the one that looks similar to the one linked but has slave/master jumpers cause I wasnt sure if the jm20330 one was fixed to master or cable select and I was looking at the option of putting a cflash adapter on the same cable as the hdd/odd. The reviews said it works on the xbox which is another option but those 2 large capacitors might make it not last as long.

 

Update on this, finally got my Mac pulled apart and used the cheap slim JM20330 2.5" IDE to SATA adapter as mentioned on an old 2.5" 120GB Kingston SSD (SSDNow I think, it's in a thick aluminum case). It makes the drive ~ 4mm longer and taller on the end so factor this in if a tight squeeze. There is a jumper on the adapter - assume some sort of CS/master/slave select - there is no drive detection with the jumper on, but picks it up removed.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/234429896060

So far so good - it IDs itself as the very Kingston model drive in my Mac, none of that generic JMICRON label that the mSATA adapters do. I've been able to install a basic OS and it runs properly (couldn't get this far using other options), the test now is to dump as much data on it as I can to ensure no data corruption. Fingers crossed it works as can then switch other Macs over using cheap old SATA1 SSDs now they're so cheap.

JB

 

If it works like the 3.5" one I have, the jumper forms a connection to denote slave. Master on mine is the same as there being no jumper attached.

 

Just throwing in my recent exeperience with this $13 jobbie: https://forums.overclockers.com.au/posts/19165168/



No dramas in a socket 7 system with the pictured 40GB SSD. In a 486 though, boot stalled at disk detection. The 486 in question is a single board computer with an onboard Disk on Chip as the C drive (which has its own bootloader, resource allocations, personality) so I'm not sure if that's a complicating factor, or if the board itself simply doesn't dig the SATA converter. I haven't experimented further at this stage.