Adam said:
I have IDE/PATA HDD(s) that I would like to use in my new build/system.
The new mobo (Asus Sabertooth 990FX) has one (1) PCI expansion slot,
which I could use for any of the following ...
- Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 PCI Adapter Card
[Is this better than IDE to SATA HDD Adaptor?]
- Audio: Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
[Is onboard sound better than this?]
- NIC: 3Com 3C905C-TXM
[Onboard LAN is better than this.]
What's the best way to connect the IDE/PATA HDD(s)?
The board already has one NIC, and the only reason for a second NIC
in a home setup, might be for Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). And
a GbE router (an external box) would be a better choice there. If you
were going to insert a NIC, it could be a PCI Express x1 NIC, inserted
into one of the x16 sized slots. The PCI GbE I own, sucks, so I
can't recommend that. You have more choices when buying PCI Express
NICs (Marvell or Intel chips are good). But really, the following
diagram is good enough.
Broadband_Internet_Modem ----- GbE router ---- Computer #1 with GbE NIC
---- Computer #2 Sabertooth 990FX
I use a setup like this, but that's because the various bits and pieces
were acquired at different times.
ADSL_Modem --- 10/100BT router --- GbE Switch ---- Computer #1 with GbE NIC
---- Computer #2 with GbE NIC
*******
Sound card idea, is a tossup. An older PCI card might be 16 bit sound,
with a decent noise floor. Motherboard audio could be 24 bit, with a
16 bit quality noise floor. (The noise floor, partially determines whether
the extra bits do anything useful or not.) The motherboard audio would
have more readily available drivers for a modern OS. If I had no
other earthly use for the PCI slot, I might experiment with the PCI
sound card. If I needed the PCI slot for something else, the sound
card idea would have to go.
*******
An IDE drive could be reached by:
1) SATA host to IDE adapter. For the older IDE drives, that probably
isn't a bottleneck (mine are around 60MB/sec sustained). The best
devices for that, have disappeared from the market. Now, you have
to be very careful when buying.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186095
(Power cable, in case the included power cable with the previous
product, is the wrong gender. The little adapter board needs power.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200752
(Spare SATA cable, running from mobo to adapter. In case the
included one in the first item, is rubbish.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200757
*******
This would have been my choice if you could still find one.
At the time, this was the 04-0476a.pdf version. The chip on
it has probably changed on the "b" version.
http://www.siig.com/download/search/?keyword=SC-SA0112-S1
2) Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 is probably the Promise IDE card, and for that
it might be a driver issue. I don't know if Promise would have
contributed a driver for OSes later than WinXP or not. Promise
stopped making that card at least five years ago. Just plug in
the card, and test the driver situation first. No need to put
IDE cables on it, and connect an IDE drive, unless the driver
issue is satisfactorily resolved. If there are no drivers for it,
pull it out and put it back in the box.
I have several cards of this type, and my only complaint about
using them, is sometimes the IDE cable has to be bent to crap
to reach the drive. It's not really a cable-friendly install.
3) USB3 to IDE enclosure, running the IDE disk external to the computer.
USB3 isn't a bottleneck with respect to a 60MB/sec sustained
transfer rate. Whereas, if you used a USB2 adapter, that would
bottleneck at 30MB/sec. But USB3, there are some enclosures for
SATA that do 200MB/sec. So the USB3 data rate shouldn't be an issue.
This one takes 3.5" hard drives, but not an optical drive. No fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817270038
And this one, you don't have to fumble with an enclosure. The disk
just sits on the table next to the dongle.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812191250
4) The Sabertooth 990FX has a Power ESATA port, but I can't find a
nice adapter for it. I found one adapter, which would be half of
a solution (would need another adapter on the end of it), but it
isn't documented. Power ESATA would be nice, if there was hardware
for it. All the bits and pieces are there, just needs the "Chinese
innovation"
Unless a proper single product could be found, the idea would be
+-----
Power_Esata ---- adapter with ----- ESATA ---- | Some kind of
12V to 12V/5V | ESATA to IDE
linear regulator --- molex ---- | enclosure
power | +-----
+-----
Power ESATA comes in two flavors. It's an ESATA connector with
two power pins on it (VCC and GND). If the Power ESATA connector is
on a laptop, VCC is +5V, and the external hard drive will be 2.5"
type. If the Power ESATA connector is on a desktop computer, the
VCC is +12V (only a dope would put +5V on it). Then, the connector
can power 3.5" drives. Since only a single rail is available via
VCC, the next stage of adaptation needs to convert +12V to +5V, for
the +5V rail of a 3.5" hard drive. So at some point, one rail is
converted to two rails, allowing either 2.5" or 3.5" drives to be
powered. The laptop option, is only going to be practical for
2.5" drives.
Power ESATA was really a silly idea, due to being incomplete. And
having different VCC options floating around, isn't a big marketing
win. There's a bit of a learning curve here, to make a working
solution without blowing something up.
I think the problem with (4), is retailers don't really want to
stock the stuff. There is one company that makes just about
every combination imaginable, but their products are not
distributed well. They sell directly to the web. So if you
want a solution badly enough, you can probably get it.
Paul
