How can I tell a laptopd DVD drive connection type?

[DJW]

How can I tell what a laptops DVD is as far as IDE (ATA) or SATA?
I removed a working DS-8AZH from a HP laptop. I want to know I am buying the correct USB external case to put it in. Is there a site with photos or specs for this drive on the web somewhere?

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

How can I tell what a laptops DVD is as far as IDE (ATA) or SATA?
I removed a working DS-8AZH from a HP laptop. I want to know I am buying the correct USB external case to put it in. Is there a site with photos or specs for this drive on the web somewhere?

Yes there are.
Do a Google search for DS-8AZH and pick the listing that matches what
you have.

On the back of the drive does it have a SATA mini data plug or the wide
IDE style connector?

Other than interface type make sure the drive enclosure is designed for
the slim drive and not a full height DVD player.

 

[Michael Black]

Yes there are.
Do a Google search for DS-8AZH and pick the listing that matches what you
have.

On the back of the drive does it have a SATA mini data plug or the wide IDE
style connector?

But isn't it less clear? I just found a laptop in pieces, dragged them
home, and the drive has a more multipin connector, yet it's not standard
IDE. I assume it's some smaller connector but still an IDE drive, but
havne't pursued it yet. It's not the first time I've seen such
connectors.

Michael

 

[Paul]

How can I tell what a laptops DVD is as far as IDE (ATA) or SATA?
I removed a working DS-8AZH from a HP laptop. I want to know I am
buying the correct USB external case to put it in. Is there a site
with photos or specs for this drive on the web somewhere?

SATA has seven pins for data and fifteen pins for power.

IDE has forty pins for data, and various schemes for power.
(On laptops, the result is a 44 pin connector, 40 pins IDE
plus 4 pins reserved for power.)

So right away, there should be a difference in pin count.

An example here, has a relatively high pincount, and another
Ebay entry says "IDE". (Of course, we cannot really trust
Ebay for correct info, so we treat this as a "hint", not a
promise.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/OEM-HP-Pavil...m3/$T2eC16hHJHQE9nzEzuN6BRK8m3OD!w~~60_57.JPG

Now, when I count pins, I get 25 visible ones. And assuming
it's a dual row kind of connector, that gives me 50 pins.
No cigar yet.

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/1956/kxf.gif

And the nearest match I can find on that info, is this adapter.
The connector pictured here, would seem to mate with the one
in the imageshack.us picture.

http://www.soarland.com/Slimline_SlimCD_JAE_50-Pin_To_IDE_Adapter-product-207.html

So it would appear, at least in the Ebay picture, that the connector
on the back is JAE. Japanese connectors tend to be smaller and
more compact, making them preferred for laptop wiring.

It could be, that the JAE is a removable assembly. Or, it could
be soldered to the controller board. There have been drives
in the past, that used an adapter on the outside of the drive.
But I rely on your judgment, as to what you've got there. If
it is soldered, don't tear it off

One other point. Your drive probably isn't that old. An evil
trick they used years ago, is to set the "Master/Slave" jumper
on such drives, via the firmware load. If you put the drive
in a USB enclosure, it could be the drive is "Slave", and the
enclosure could be "Master Only". Or, the enclosure could
have a jumper for Master or Slave, and changing the jumper
will allow the drive to be detected. The really bad part of
doing it with firmware update, is that the steps in the procedure
made it into a one-way change. You couldn't change it back
later. So there can be other peculiarities in re-purposing
slim drives.

Paul

 

[Flasherly]

How can I tell what a laptops DVD is as far as IDE (ATA) or SATA?
I removed a working DS-8AZH from a HP laptop.

I want to know I am buying the correct USB external case to put it in.
Is there a site with photos or specs for this drive on the web
somewhere?

-
Hooks up with those little tiny connectors, everythings super fragile,
with semi transparent traces, like on a piece of scotch tape? ...I
personally wouldn't count on it. There's a mini-DVD burner in an
external USB for $30 on NewEgg now, and I've seen panasonic 20Gigabyte
BluRay burners for as much on Ebay. Purely curiosity, but how much
did ya say ya gonna pay for that external case?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

How can I tell what a laptops DVD is as far as IDE (ATA) or SATA?
I removed a working DS-8AZH from a HP laptop. I want to know I am buying the correct USB external case to put it in. Is there a site with photos or specs for this drive on the web somewhere?

Look at the connector. IDE uses 40 or 44 pins, SATA uses far less and
they're like card edge connectors rather than pins.

 

[DJW]

I just went to ebay to find a external USB case to put the drive in and PATA is shown as an option. What is PATA? vs ATA (IDE) is it the smaller connection?

 

[DJW]

I want to know I am buying the correct USB external case to put it in.

Is there a site with photos or specs for this drive on the web

somewhere?



-

Hooks up with those little tiny connectors, everythings super fragile,

with semi transparent traces, like on a piece of scotch tape? ...I

personally wouldn't count on it. There's a mini-DVD burner in an

external USB for $30 on NewEgg now, and I've seen panasonic 20Gigabyte

BluRay burners for as much on Ebay. Purely curiosity, but how much

did ya say ya gonna pay for that external case?

 

[Flasherly]

I just went to ebay to find a external USB

case to put the drive in and PATA is shown as an option. What is PATA?
vs ATA (IDE) is it the smaller connection?

-
ATA prefixed by erial or [Parallel]. 20 or so pins to Parallel,
whereas there's a different controller scheme to Serial since there
are fewer pin-strobes and timing factors and communications are going
to be entirely different.

Basically that optional Parallel connector is just so you can take an
older, smaller storage-sized parallel drives and run them inside the
enclosure. Another factor you may or not have considered is that
drives inside one of those things can get pretty damn toasty. You
obviously don't want your HD drive running 130, 140, or more degrees.
Two options - either cool it with makeshift, mini-chintzy fans (get a
few or bunch, as they might tend burn out - I use also them on vacuum
tube amplifiers to take some of the heat of the PCB), or, simply
enough, get the "other style": a slotted SATA drive enclosure with
half the drive exposed and put a 115V WallyMart clip-on fan on it for
extended operations. I'm using the slotted style - really don't like
the idea of closed up drives, and it's hard enough on some
construction designs just to keep HDs cool inside a standard style PC
case.

 

[Paul]

I just went to ebay to find a external USB case to put the drive in and PATA is shown as an option. What is PATA? vs ATA (IDE) is it the smaller connection?

PATA and IDE are the same thing. They refer to the parallel bus style
connection over ribbon cable.

3.5" drives use a 2x20 pin connector, 0.1" centers.
2.5" drives use a 2x22 pin connector, 2mm centers.

Your laptop had a JAE adapter of some sort, a 2x25 connector.
Which you would not normally find in a third party enclosure product.
Many laptop storage devices, the adapter slapped on them, can be
unplugged, revealing a "standard" device underneath.

If your slim optical drive, the 2x25 is soldered right to the
controller board of the slim drive, then you'll need to find
some sort of JAE to IDE cabling. Not a clue what that would
look like, which is why I'm hoping the JAE portion unplugs.

Paul

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I just went to ebay to find a external USB case to put the drive in and PATA is shown as an option. What is PATA? vs ATA (IDE) is it the smaller connection?

PATA = IDE.