SATA drive and PATA-only motherboard

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

SATA drives are cheaper and larger these days.
I want to use SATA drives with computers without SATA controllers.
I don't want to add a PCI card SATA controller because I'm short of PCI slots.
I don't want to use USB-to-SATA (or is that SATA-to-USB) because I expect that
would be a large performance hit.
So I'd like to use a SATA-HDD to PATA host adapter.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Here's what I've discovered so far:

- terminology is unclear.  Does SATA to IDE mean that the drive is
  SATA or IDE (PATA)?

- some converters appear to be bidirectional (i.e. they will work as
  SATA HDD to PATA host converter or as a PATA HDD to SATA host
  converter).  But the documentation is ambiguous.  Is this possible?
  Likely?

- a normal PATA controller socket supports a cable with two drives
  connected: master and slave.  The vast majority of converters seem
  to take one PATA socket to connect only one SATA drive.  Is this
  intrinsic to the protocols or just what the market wants?

- The SATA HDD to PATA controller converters seem to have female PATA
  connectors so they plug directly into the socket where an IDE cable
  would normally go.  It would make sense to me that if they supported
  only one SATA drive, they could connect to the master or slave
  connector of an IDE cable instead if the gender were male (like an
  IDE drive).  Besides, the converters appear to be mechanically
  awkward to plug into a motherboard (the motherboard IDE sockets are
  often closely packed).  Why do they make adapters this way?

- Canada computers sells an adapter.  Their site has very little
  documentation and spotty inventory:
    http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019312&cid=CA.742.630
  So does XpressCanada, but that seems to be a front for Canada
  Computers (same head office).  The price is lower but you have
  to get it shipped, so the cost isn't lower:
    http://www.xpresscanada.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019312&cid=CA.742.630

- Deal Extreme has a bunch of converters.  It is very hard to tell how
  well they work.  (DX is a great source of cheap junk but I'm not
  confident that their quality control is great.)

================ "Bilateral" ================

These can connect SATA HDD to PATA host or vice versa.  They call
these "bilateral".  These have two SATA connectors: one for a HDD and
one for host.  Only one SATA may be connected a time.  If HDD is
connected to SATA, then the PATA is for host; if host is connected to
(other) SATA, then the PATA is for HDD.

Most of these seem bulky.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1067
	"Ide-to-Sata 2-Ways Adapter".  Board is inside a box.
	Not clear why they didn't say "bilateral".

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5458
	"SATA-IDE Bilateral Converter Board"

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7533
	"SATA-IDE Bilateral Converter Board"

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3576
	"DE to SATA 2-Port Adapter Card"
	Description says that it handles two drives but a user review
	says this isn't the case.
	Apparently "bilateral".

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5496
	"Bidirectional IDE-SATA Converter"
	Apparently "bilateral".


================ one PATA HDD to one SATA host ================

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.706
	"SATA to IDE Converter Driver".  Seems to work with IDE drive,
	SATA host.  No power plug conversion.
	"Apparently the fact that the last word is "driver" rather than
	"host" is supposed to" tell you that the disk is IDE.
	But some comments suggest the opposite.  Who knows.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12537
	"SATA to IDE Hard Disk Mini Vertical Bridge Adapter Card"

================ one SATA HDD to one PATA host ================

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.728
	"SATA to IDE Converter Host".  SATA for HDD.
	One comment says that "IT WORKS IN BOTH WAYS!!"
	No power plug conversion.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1759
	"IDE (40-Pin) to SATA Hard Disk Converter"
	No power conversion.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8825
	Parallel PATA to Serial SATA Hard Disk Converter.
	Comments suggest that the speed must be limited to UDMA/33
	Note: comments were from mlord, probably the same Mark Lord
	who was the original author and maintainer of the Linux Kernel
	IDE subsystem.  http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2008/view_bio.php?id=2652

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11163
	SATA HDD to IDE converter.  Appears to convert power too.
	Seems to be suitable to slap on the back of a drive.
	sold out

================ two SATA HDD to PATA host ================

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14666
	"2-SATA Port to IDE".  This must be for
	SATA HDD and IDE (PATA) host since two
	host connections makes no sense.
	Or it could be misdocumented and be bilateral


http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18786
	"2-Port SATA HDD to 40-Pin IDE Master/Slave with Power
	Adapter Cable".
	Sounds just like what I need.
	Scary box label disagrees with site blurb and with pictures:
		    Specifications & features
			One 40pin IDE port
			one serial ATA port
			one 4pin power connector
			converts sevial ATA TO paraller ATA
			supports ATA100/133
			compliant with serial ATA specifications
				MADE IN CHINA
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