Use a SATA Disk in External enclosure?

[Sam]

Does anyone know if it is possible/advisable to connect and use a SATA hard
disk inside an external hard disc enclosure ( connected to pc with USB or
Firewire) ?

I have used the enclosure to house a PATA/IDE drive with no problem but
wondered whether there were any compatibility issues with the SATA drive. I
have the empty enclosure and spare SATA drive so would like to put them to
use.

TIA

Sam

 

[jeffrey]

Hi,

Does it support SATA? if it does, then shouldn`t be a problem.

Jeff

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Depends on the enclosure, it's made _either_ for a PATA or a SATA drive....


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[Sam]

Ahh,thanks Thomas and Jeffrey,

I gather then that enclosures can not house either a SATA or PATA (at
different times) but rather only ever one or the other, correct?As this
enclosure has worked with a PATA in the past then it can't work with a SATA?

Sam


"Thomas Wendell" wrote in message

 

[jeffrey]

Hi,

If you don`t have the cable connectors for SATA in that external case, then
it will not work with a SATA drive. Most enclosures or external cases are
designed for certian hardware, usually not universal for multiple things.
Without more detail about the enclosurer your using, I can`t give you a
better answer.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

You need to buy a case specifically designed for SATA and the Notebook or
Desktop computer must have external Serial ATA port.

As an example:
http://www.coolerexpress.com/by3seata150e.html

To put external SATA support on a desktop is easy: just buy an SATA External
Port Pass-Through Bracket Extention: it plugs onto the Mobo SATA port and
allows for you to connect the external unit without leaving a hole in the PC.

http://www.xpcgear.com/sataptbracket.html

 

[Sam]

Yes thank you,this clears things up for me and led to some other interesting
findings.

For the benefit of lurkers you can also buy PCI SATA controller/host cards,
some with external ports as well as internal ports and some with hardware
RAID support. All this affords an amazing potential for hooking up external
SATA drives (some direct to MOBO or some connected to a PCI card , or both)
with virtually unlimited storage and backup capacity utilizing lightning
fast SATA bandwidth ( way faster than FW 400/800 or USB2). Also fantastic
for video editing etc.

Sam