Question 1

Does this adapter work with windows 7 64bit and windows 8 64bit and windows 8.1 64bit?

Accepted Answer

This unit is not dependant on the operating system. It does not need a software driver. Think of it as a language translation device. Hard drives communicate in both directions, in and out. This device reads information entering one side and translates it to  send it out the other side in a different protocol. Any information going in the ide side gets translated to a sata protcol, and sent out the Sata side. Information coming from the sata side gets internally translated to the ide protocol and sent out the ide side. The software is built into the unit, and only requires power from the system.

Question 2

Specifications say: "Supports 3.5-inch SATA and IDE (ATA) hard drive.  Supports 5.25-inch SATA and IDE (ATA) optical drives."

Does this mean it will not support a 5.25-inch IDE (ATA) HARD DRIVE?

Accepted Answer

I genuinely do not know since I haven't even seen a 5.25" HDD in atleast 10 years and it definitely wasn't IDE, it was MFM. I'd think there are MFM adapters out there though.

You could try contacting the manufacturer and see if they could tell you. "sybausa" .com

Question 3

I am trying to install an old IDE CD/DVD in a new SATA motherboard computer. I see the pictures and have read the documentation but the power connector doesn't seem to match anything in the new SATA computer.  Is there a power adapter in the package that I can't see?

Accepted Answer

You are still supposed to use the Molex connector on your power supply to power the IDE (PATA) hard drive. SATA hard drives use a SATA power plug while IDE (PATA) hard drives use the 4 connector Molex connector that was a standard in Older computers. If you do not have a Molex connector on your power supply and it is all SATA there is an adapter sold to make a SATA power plug a Molex power plug.

This device does not provide power to the hard drive. It is an interface to allow a old IDE (PATA) hard drive to interface with SATA.

Question 4

I want to put a SATA drive into a XP machine with on IDE MB.  Can I but from the SATA drive using this device?

Accepted Answer

yes...yes you can. I did just that for a clients computer...He had Windows XP OS and his MoBo had only 2 IDE connections...his Hard-drive got damaged...so we replaced it with a SATA Drive...used this connector and MoBo & OS read it no problems.

Question 5

Will this work with a SATA hard drive docking station?

Accepted Answer

This could, since it allows an IDE drive to be connected to a SATA interface. However, you will need a 4-pin IDE floppy drive power connector AND an IDE cable in order to run it. It works best if you're putting it inside a PC that's going to run either a newer SATA drive with an older IDE motherboard or an older IDE drive with a newer SATA motherboard.

Also, this is much slower than using a newer SATA drive, since IDE drives only transfer data at 133 Mb/second while SATA drives transfer data at speeds between 1.5Gb/second and 3 Gb/second depending on which version of SATA the drive supports.

For just a little more money, I would advise you to get an IDE HDD enclosure or drive dock. An IDE dock or enclosure is relatively inexpensive compared to trying this.

Rosewill has one for $16.99, which is roughly the same price as the SYBA converter and the cables you would need to buy to run it. I would suggest the Rosewill enclosure instead.

Question 6

I have a old Mac 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 laptop with a 2.5in ATA Hard Drive...I wanted to put in in my old G5 Desktop which i believe needs a 3.5 in SATA 7200 rpm Hard Drive...will this converter do the trick?

Accepted Answer

The IDE interface on this device differs from that on a notebook drive.  This is the 40-pin 3.5" desktop size.  The 2.5" 44-pin notebook PATA form factor is physically smaller.  It would be an awful lot of work to get this working with a 2.5" PATA drive.  You would be better off purchasing a used SATA drive.  A 2.5" SATA drive will work fine in the G5 Desktop, but you will not be able to mount it with Apple's mounting hardware due to the size difference.

Question 7

What are the dimensions? I have limited space.

Accepted Answer

Look at the pics, it is as wide as an IDE port.  That should give you a good idea of the other dimensions.  Remember it will install a little bit into the rear of the drive, saving a little space.  If you need specific measurements I could later tonight when I'm home from work...

Question 8

I have a ATA100 drive from  my  Dell Dimension 4500 that has WXP on it and a program that works  that I have been unable to over to the new Dell T3500 SATA computer. Will this  device allow me to install my ATA100 drive and boot from it ?? Is it plug and play - or do I need different power than the SATA power cable???

Accepted Answer

Maybe.  I say that because results seem to vary depending on logic board and chipsets.  It works fine for me using an Intel IDE motherboad and SATA hard drives.  I did try it with a Promise SATA PCI adapter card, plugging into a SATA port and attaching an IDE drive using this adapter, and it worked.  This was strictly an experiment since a person would not normally use a PCI SATA adapter with an IDE motherboard to attach an IDE drive.  As an aside, I bought 3 different brands of adapters in the hope of getting one to work with SATA hard drives using the Intel IDE motherboard and all 3 worked.

Question 9

I have a dual-drive CD/DVD duplication tower. I would like to replace the DVD burners with Blu-ray burners, but cannot find a Blu-ray with PATA interface. The tower uses 1394a firewire connection to HBA in PC (running xp 32bit).

I have read most of the more recent reviews of this device and there has been much difficulty getting it to operate with optical drives. My situation is the opposite of virtually all the posts: I need to use a SATA burner in a system that needs two PATA devices (master and slave).

Any chance two of these adapters will work for me?

Thanks,
Videoterry

Accepted Answer

This will not work for optical drives.  There are PATA Bluray burners, but even used they tend to be prohibitively expensive compared to their SATA counterparts.  I would also check to see if your duplicator's controller even supports Bluray burners.  Some duplicator controllers do not.

Question 10

Only worked first time I used it and it was finicky at best. Now I need to access a drive and it will not work, I have tried 3 computers. Any Ideas?

Accepted Answer

I guess the adapter that you're using is malfunctioning. I tried mine and it's working fine. If there is a compatibility issue between your driver and disk system, the computer might not be able to recognize. I put a really old HDD (10G) to WinXP system, it didn't work.
Other that that, I don't know off the top of my head.

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