This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?
--
Graeme

On Sat, 08 Feb 2014 11:27:59 +0000, News wrote:

This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?


Some SATA motherboards do have an IDE connector as well. If you can't
find one then you can find IDE to SATA adaptors (a little PCB with
connectors & an IC) for quite reasonable prices. Just plug and go.

On 08/02/2014 11:27, News wrote:

This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

There's probably more than one SARA connector on the motherboard.


Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?


You'll need an IDE to SATA convertor plus a SATA cable. Simpler is to
stick the drive into one of those USB caddies, but these are slow.

If you want to save money, start both PCs up and join them with a
network cable. You really ought to use a crossover cable, but I bet an
ordinary patch cable will work. That's what I would do.

On 08/02/2014 11:39, GB wrote:

There's probably more than one SARA connector on the motherboard.

Oops SATA

News wrote:
This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.
Some boards have both types of controller, but that's not common on
very recent machines which tend to only have SATA.
If you have got an ATA connector on the new machine you can move the
drive over without a problem. Otherwise the best option is probably an
external drive case that connects to USB.

Mike

On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:
News wrote:
This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.
Some boards have both types of controller, but that's not common on
very recent machines which tend to only have SATA.
If you have got an ATA connector on the new machine you can move the
drive over without a problem. Otherwise the best option is probably an
external drive case that connects to USB.

Or go to your local computer fair or Maplin store and buy an IDE to SATA
adaptor. The one I bought for a tenner or so works either way round, so
you can use it to plug a SATA drive into an old motherboard or an IDE
drive into a new one. You'll also need the appropriate cables and a SATA
to IDE power adaptor. Once you've plugged it all together, it's pretty
much plug and pray, with the only real problem being to get Windows to
see the new (old) drive, which will probably require an excursion into
Disk Manager.


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 08/02/2014 11:27, News wrote:

This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

Yup, IDE supports two devices per bus: master and slave.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

SATA supports one per bus. However most motherboards have at least 4 and
often 6 or more SATA ports.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?

Not necessarily. You can get IDE to SATA adaptors (make sure you get the
right one - they do ones for using SATA devices on IDE buses and also
IDE devices on SATA).

However, if all you want is a temporary lashup for quick file transfer,
one of the USB to IDE+SATA adaptors is often the easiest way of grafting
any type of drive onto a machine temporarily. About a fiver from ebay.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 08/02/2014 12:30, John Williamson wrote:
On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:
News wrote:
This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.
Some boards have both types of controller, but that's not common on
very recent machines which tend to only have SATA.
If you have got an ATA connector on the new machine you can move the
drive over without a problem. Otherwise the best option is probably an
external drive case that connects to USB.

Or go to your local computer fair or Maplin store and buy an IDE to SATA
adaptor. The one I bought for a tenner or so works either way round, so
you can use it to plug a SATA drive into an old motherboard or an IDE
drive into a new one. You'll also need the appropriate cables and a SATA
to IDE power adaptor. Once you've plugged it all together, it's pretty
much plug and pray, with the only real problem being to get Windows to
see the new (old) drive, which will probably require an excursion into
Disk Manager.


Or eBay

Here is the power connector

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SATA-Combo...item25893f50e2

and here is a data one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IDE-HDD-to...item43bc3be25c

or this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-2-5-3-...item43be7907c8

But an external USB box gives you more flexibility, because you can
always hook it up to a laptop or tablet too.

I think it is well worth having one of these in your spares kit if you
might end up doing this again

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-TO...item20dd0f7ffd

as it is the quick and easy way to look at any "loose" hard (or optical)
drive. This one includes a power supply which is a bit more flexible
than one powered by USB since that doesn't always give enough current
for older drives.

On 08/02/2014 11:27, News wrote:

This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?


SATA to IDE adapter cables are cheap and plug direct onto IDE drive.

--
UK SelfBuild: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/UK_Selfbuild/

On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.

Other than:

http://r.ebay.com/U6QYan


(and many other examples)



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 08/02/2014 12:42, John Rumm wrote:
On 08/02/2014 11:27, News wrote:

This is a follow up to all sorts of other questions and queries.

Still playing with two PCs, old running XP and newer running W7. Decided
to move the HD from the XP machine to the W7 machine, to ease transfer
of old docts etc., and give extra storage capacity. Problem. It seems
that the old PC uses an IDE connector, whereas the new PC uses what I
think is SATA.

The old HD (Seagate Barracuda) uses a 40 pin connector, with a ribbon
cable to the board, via a second (unused) 40 pin connector for a second
drive.

Yup, IDE supports two devices per bus: master and slave.

The W7 HD connector is completely different and appears not to have a
'spare' connector for a slave drive.

SATA supports one per bus. However most motherboards have at least 4 and
often 6 or more SATA ports.

Am I wasting my time trying to marry one to the other?

Not necessarily. You can get IDE to SATA adaptors (make sure you get the
right one - they do ones for using SATA devices on IDE buses and also
IDE devices on SATA).

A large number of them seem to be bi-directional and can be used for either.

SteveW

In message ,
newshound writes

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-TO...D-with-Power-A
dapter-Converter-UK-/141147734013?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters &
hash=item20dd0f7ffd

as it is the quick and easy way to look at any "loose" hard (or
optical) drive. This one includes a power supply which is a bit more
flexible than one powered by USB since that doesn't always give enough
current for older drives.

Thanks for *all* the replies. I have ordered the kit above, partly
because I have a drawer full of old hard drives, and it will be handy to
use the kit, to see if there is anything of interest there.

The kit will either come with full instructions, or connections will be
obvious, or I'll be back in a few days :-)

--
Graeme

John Rumm wrote:

On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.

Other than:
http://r.ebay.com/U6QYan
(and many other examples)


That one come with some unique Specifications

-

On 08/02/14 21:39, John Rumm wrote:
On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.

Other than:

http://r.ebay.com/U6QYan


(and many other examples)



Reminds me of that urban legend about a man who won an Apple competion
for the most creative thing you could do with an Apple Mac....

"With additional hardware, and software, an Apple Mac could land a man
on Mars"

It all depends on what you mean by 'directly connect' doesn't it?





--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

In article , lid says...

On 08/02/14 21:39, John Rumm wrote:
On 08/02/2014 11:43, Mike Humphrey wrote:

SATA uses one cable per drive - most motherboards have at least four
ports.
There's no way to directly connect an ATA drive to a SATA controller.

Other than:

http://r.ebay.com/U6QYan


(and many other examples)



Reminds me of that urban legend about a man who won an Apple competion
for the most creative thing you could do with an Apple Mac....

"With additional hardware, and software, an Apple Mac could land a man
on Mars"

It all depends on what you mean by 'directly connect' doesn't it?

As in "Let's ignore the fact that these words were used"?

--
Sam

In message ,
newshound writes

I think it is well worth having one of these in your spares kit if you
might end up doing this again

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-TO...D-with-Power-A
dapter-Converter-UK-/141147734013?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters &
hash=item20dd0f7ffd

The above kit was ordered and duly arrived. No instructions but all
connections were fairly obvious. Happy bunny - can now access the old
hard drive as well as the new. Thank you!

However, the old (IDE) drive is exactly as I removed it from the old PC,
complete with XP. How can I tell the new PC to boot XP rather than W7,
or is that not possible? I have been pressing F keys during boot, and
can set boot from floppy, CD or hard drive, but the only hard drive
option is the original, which boots W7.
--
Graeme

In article ,
News wrote:
However, the old (IDE) drive is exactly as I removed it from the old PC,
complete with XP. How can I tell the new PC to boot XP rather than W7,
or is that not possible? I have been pressing F keys during boot, and
can set boot from floppy, CD or hard drive, but the only hard drive
option is the original, which boots W7.

Download a free prog called Easy BCD. That will allow you to access the
dual boot function easily. You'll then get the choice of booting either
Win7 or XP just after the BIOS page shows - and also be able to decide
which one is the default if you don't actually select one.

--
*Of course I'm against sin; I'm against anything that I'm too old to enjoy.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 19/02/2014 16:38, News wrote:
In message ,
newshound writes

I think it is well worth having one of these in your spares kit if you
might end up doing this again

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-TO...D-with-Power-A
dapter-Converter-UK-/141147734013?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters &
hash=item20dd0f7ffd

The above kit was ordered and duly arrived. No instructions but all
connections were fairly obvious. Happy bunny - can now access the old
hard drive as well as the new. Thank you!

However, the old (IDE) drive is exactly as I removed it from the old PC,
complete with XP. How can I tell the new PC to boot XP rather than W7,
or is that not possible? I have been pressing F keys during boot, and
can set boot from floppy, CD or hard drive, but the only hard drive
option is the original, which boots W7.

Your first possible problem is that not all BIOSes will boot from an
external hard drive...

The next is that the old drive will have a boot.ini file that directs
the windows boot loader to a numbered partition on a numbered interface
- thse will almost certainly be wrong for the new setup - so you will
need to edit that (you can turn on the boot menu in it, and also add
multiple entries with different partition numbers etc and try each until
you find the right one).

Ideally you would need to clone the old XP to the new disk, then do a
win7 install onto that so that it can be setup as a multiboot system.
That will give you an early boot menu to choose win7 or "earlier" OS
using the normal windows boot loader.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/02/2014 16:38, News wrote:
I have been pressing F keys during boot, and
can set boot from floppy, CD or hard drive, but the only hard drive
option is the original, which boots W7.

Your first possible problem is that not all BIOSes will boot from an
external hard drive...

Thanks to Dave and John for the comments. I duly installed Easy BCD,
but it does not work for my situation, despite me letting it find the
drive, then retrying manually. I suspect the problem is as outlined by
John.

I'm not brave enough to start playing with boot loaders and the like, so
will accept that I cannot do what I thought I may be able to. Not a
huge problem, as I have already copied the data, and if I really need to
boot the XP disk, I can pop it back in the PC it came from.
--
Graeme

In article ,
News wrote:
Thanks to Dave and John for the comments. I duly installed Easy BCD,
but it does not work for my situation, despite me letting it find the
drive, then retrying manually. I suspect the problem is as outlined by
John.

I've sometimes found you have to get Easy BCD to add an extra entry. If
say Win 7 is the main one and XP the extra, changed the XP entry name to
say XP2 or whatever and get it add a new one for XP. If that new one now
works change the non working one's name to rubbish or whatever and just
ignore it. ;-)

I have no idea why I've had to do this - but it worked on at least two
machines.

--
*I don't have a solution, but I admire your problem. *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.