Holt:
You've raised some very good questions. Please see my inline comments.
Anna
Holt (& Tim):
While it's true that IDE ribbon cable specifications call for a length no
more than 18", in this "real world" of ours there's really no performance
issue involved in using a 24" (or even a 36") IDE data cable. At least none
that we've ever encountered using these longer cables. We've routinely
connect PATA drives outside the computer (usually we never actually need a
data cable exceeding 18" in length), usually for cloning purposes. Since
it's a temporary situation, in most cases we use only the bare drive,
dispensing with any enclosure.
Thank you for your reply, Tim. Following your advice, I read the web
pages
you mentioned. So, roughly speaking, it seems as if there is a decent
trick
to pull out a Serial ATA (SATA) wire from inside the PC and to attach the
wire to a SATA hard drive placed outside the PC. The trick uses two
parts.
One is StarTech's SATA Data Internal to External Slot Plate. The other is
Kingwin's SATA enclosure kit.
Holt:
There's really no "trick" involved. We've used that StarTech device
(SATAPOWPLAT1) which retails for about $15 I think with a bare SATA drive.
You really don't need the Kingwin (or similar) SATA enclosure in this
situation since it really has no function other than to contain the drive.
You can make the data & power connections directly from the StarTech device
to the drive itself. It would be nice to have a simple enclosure merely to
house the drive for protective purposes. We sometimes use the removable tray
(caddy) in a SATA mobile rack to hold the drive. That works.
With this trick, an "internal" hard drive can be physically placed outside
the PC. The PC and Windows XP will presumably be fooled to consider this
kind of external drive to be an internal drive. So, the setup program on
the Windows XP installer CD will presumably install Windows XP onto this
kind of external drive. The Windows XP installed on this kind of external
drive will presumably be able to boot the PC. Are these presumptions
right?
Will Windows XP on this kind of external drive really boot the PC?
Yes, you've got it right. But again, it's no "trick". We're not "fooling"
anyone or anything. The system treats the SATA drive as it should, i.e., as
an internal drive. Period. The fact that the drive resides outside the
computer case is irrelevant. It's connected to the motherboard's SATA
connector (there's one exception that I'll comment on later) just like any
other internal SATA drive.
I have further questions. If the motherboard or the SATA controller has
two
internal SATA ports, then the PC will be able to have two "internal" hard
drives--one placed inside the PC and the other possibly placed outside the
PC. Is it possible to install Windows XP to both drives? Once Windows XP
is installed to both drives, how can one instruct the PC to use which
drive
as the booting drive? Does BIOS have settings for that, perhaps?
Again, you've got it right. The SATA drives are internal drives, whether
they're residing inside or outside the computer's case. You could install XP
to both drives, but I really don't know why you would want to. If it's for
backup purposes, why not simply "clone" the contents of one drive to another
using a disk imaging program? But if you need it, you can do it. And in
*most* (but not all) cases the BIOS boot order can be modified so that you
can boot to one drive or the other. (But we've come across some motherboards
where a physical disconnect of one SATA drive was needed before the system
would boot to the other drive. The user was unable to change the BIOS boot
order in this case. This only involved SATA drives, and not PATA ones. But
those were rare exceptions).
I have a further question. Does the motherboard or the SATA controller of
a
typical recent PC have two SATA ports? If there is only one SATA port and
if the port is already occupied by the drive placed inside the PC, then
one
cannot have a second SATA drive.
Yes, every motherboard that we've come across that supports SATA capability
has at least two SATA connectors. And more & more motherboards are coming
equipped with four (or more) SATA connectors. In this connection I would
strongly advise anyone contemplating purchasing a new motherboard to get one
with four SATA ports. They're generally the better MBs and more costly, but
swing for it if you can.
I have one more question about the trick of having an "internal" SATA hard
drive placed physically outside the PC. Is this trick applicable to
laptop/notebook computers? I do not think StarTech's "SATA Data Internal
to
External Slot Plate" fits on laptop/notebook computers.
Stop calling it a "trick"! (Just kidding). I'm not aware of any similar
device being available for a laptop/notebook. but there may very well be.
And it's a near certainty similar devices will become available for those
computer-types in the not-too-distant future. But I would guess is would be
something a bit different. And here I'll comment on another type of SATA
connector that's coming into vogue...
A number of the newer MBs now come equipped with an eSATA connector. Note
the lower-case "e" which apparently stands for "external". It's a SATA data
connector (port) on the I/O backplane of the computer (where the monitor,
keyboard, mouse, etc. ports are). Interestingly, that eSATA port is
physically different from a "normal" SATA data port and takes a different
connector. Presumably it was designed to afford better connectivity for the
SATA external data cable. But the problem here (well, maybe not a problem,
but a limitation, is that there's no power connector. So how will one get
power to the SATA drive residing outside the case? I guess here's where the
Kingwin and similar SATA enclosures be useful since they incorporate a power
supply. But why do we need the bulk & additional expense of such an
enclosure when it would seem to be easy enough to include a power port
adjacent to the eSATA connector that would use the computer's power supply?
Perhaps there are MB's coming so equipped; it's just that I haven't come
across any.
Just one other comment concerning the eSATA connector. There has been some
indication that this connector can be used *only* as a data drive
connection, i.e., the SATA drive connected to it would *not* be bootable. I
haven't worked with an eSATA connector yet so I don't know if that's true or
not. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to do so in the next few days. But
if anyone has any info on this, I would certainly like to hear about it.
As I've previously mentioned to Tim, it would seem to me that the days of
the USB/Firewire external hard drives are numbered as we go more & more to
SATA drives. The desirability of having a *bootable* hard drive residing
outside the computer is an enormous advantage; no doubt about it.
Anna
