Question 1

is this for desktop or laptop?

Accepted Answer

I used mine on a Desktop PC, so I'm not sure if there will be enough room for use in a Laptop setup. I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer (Vantec) for a correct answer....sorry I couldn't be more helpful...
A.Means

Question 2

Does this work in reverse as well, i.e. can I use this in a PC with only IDE capabilities to connect a SATA drive?

Accepted Answer

I know this doesn't help much right now. However I'm 99% sure it will work as you described. The best I can do is to physically take a look at it ASAP. Which would be sometime this afternoon. I'm on the East Coast and it's 3:54 am presently. I will repost tomorrow. If No One else has answered your question yet.
Thx, Tim B.

Question 3

Would this device work with an IDE laptop hard drive , I need to get my brothers data off his old laptop ide drive?

Accepted Answer

This device is designed to connect to old style 3.5" IDE drive, to connect to newer SATA controller common to new mother boards.  I  assume you are trying to connect a 2.5" IDE drive from an older laptop?  This adapter will not connect directly to a 2.5" drive as the 2.5" drive uses a 44-pin connector, and this adapter has the larger 40-pin IDE connector.   You have a couple options:

- use this adapter with a 44-pin female to 40-pin male adapter (I have no specific recommendation but there are a couple that should work)

- find a 44-pin female to SATA male adapter (no recommendations here)

- find a USB adapter that will accept a 44-pin notebook drive, and read the drive using external USB port instead of internal SATA connection.  The advantage here is that you can get more flexibility, with some adapters that can read about anything, but external, temporary connection.

Of course all of these suggestions are aimed at desktop use, and none of will actually fit into a new notebook with SATA.

Question 4

How do you troubleshoot this adapter that does not work? I tried on three computers, all of them failed. Two could not recognize it. The last one failed to boot. The system halts. It's strange that others were able to make it work. Are they genuine buyers? Would the manufacturer show a video that shows the installation process  and how it works on their computer?

Accepted Answer

I have three of these and they work perfectly.  The only thing that I had to do to make them work was to make sure both power connectors were plugged in.  You need the 4 pin molex connector plugged into the drive and the four pin 'floppy' connector plugged into the adapter.  Plug the sata connector into the adapter.  Then, it just works for me.

Question 5

Will this allow me to install an old IDE drive to a SATA only system? Does it come with all the required data and power cables

Accepted Answer

The answer to both of your questions is "Yes".  In the package comes the IDE to SATA Converter, a 19-1/2" long SATA data cable, a nifty Y power cable that converts one SATA power connector to two IDE power connectors, and a small User Manual.  Per the Manual, "The Vantec IDE to Serial ATA converter is an easy and convenient way to convert your existing IDE devices to the new Serial ATA standard.  Mounted easily behind the back of any IDE device (Hard Drive, CD-RW, etc.), this mini converter turns your IDE device to Serial ATA in a cost-effective way."
  
While I haven't installed mine yet, this looks like a good quality converter that has a 1 year warranty.  The converter has female IDE data pin ports, so it will connect directly to the male data pins of the IDE data port on the back of the IDE device (i.e., no ribbon cable required).  Don't forget, you'll need one converter for each IDE device you want to convert to the SATA system.

Question 6

will this adaptor work with cd/dvd drives?

Accepted Answer

I haven't actually used it with one BUT there's NO reason it shouldn't. Since IDE cables could be used on a Hard Drive or any other Disc Drives as Masters or Slaves. They were completely interchangeable. I know it's not a solid answer but I'm 99% confident it would work.  T B.

Question 7

It seems like a simple enough adapter, however I am still having trouble getting it to work with my IDE CD/DVD drive..

Everything is physically connected and has power. I can open/close the disc tray but it is not recognized on my system as a connected device. It is currently connected to SATA-4

Do I need to change any settings in BIOS?
I'm also running UBUNTU 13.10 if that has anything do with it.

Accepted Answer

You are correct, this adapter is very easy to connect.

1. Connect power to device and the adapter.
2. Set the device jumper to Master.
3. Connect the adapter to the back of device and plug in a SATA cable from adapter to motherboard.

That's all you basically have to do. I wasn't able to do anything in the BIOS because it didn't even recognize my hard drive until I was at the desktop of my Windows 7 machine. I am not sure if using Ubuntu has anything to do with your unit not working but it is possible. I actually bought two different adapters from different manufactures and both worked exactly the same. Both adapters were able to write data (40-60Mb/s) to the hard drive just fine but reading the data was painfully slow (4Mb/s).

Long story short, I gave up on both adapters. So now I am going to try out a IDE Controller card which I purchased yesterday. I am crossing my fingers on that one.

Question 8

Has this product been tested by the manufacturer?

This product defintely does not work. I'm an IT guy with Hp xw8200 workstation. When I plugged it to my IDE and insert the power to it, my system halts and would not proceed. It's a waste of my time!!!!

Accepted Answer

IT WPRKED BUT NOT RIGHT AT FIRST ON MY VINTAGE 1999 HP WRITER PLUS CDRW DRIVE MADE IN 1999. THERE WERE 2 ISSUES WITH MINE, BUT THEY WERE ACTUALLY MY FAULT, THE 1ST WAS IT YOU LOOK AT THE REAR AS IT WOULD BE MOUNTED, FOR SOME REASON, HP DECIDED TO PUT ABOUT A "1/8" INCH BLADE AS A TOTALLY SEPERATE GROUND STRAP. I HAVE A PIONEER I GOT ABOUT 2 WEEKS AFTER THAT ONE BACK IN 1999 & ITS LAYOUT WAS ENTIRELY RVERSERSED FROM THE HP 8100 THAT I HAD JUST BOUGHT??? GO FIGURE. THE SECOND THING IS DONT FORGET TO PLUG IN THE AUDIO CABLE AND TAKE OUT THE JUMPERS OR IT WILL JUST SPOL UP & NO SOUND! HOPE THAT HELPS YOU OUT & GOOD LUCK! TONY

Question 9

does the HDD work / run any slower in the adapter environment then it did as a straight through connect as before?

Accepted Answer

I haven't run any tests or anything, but in my experience, I haven't noticed any slower transfer speeds. Also, as far as I know, when it comes to HDDs, the RPM has more of an impact than the connector used, when it comes to accessing data on a fixed disk. Also, since SATA is faster than IDE, the speeds for the drive should be capped at the max speed of IDE, since this is for connecting an IDE hard drive to a SATA motherboard or add-on card.

Question 10

Can you use this device with a ide hard disk from a laptop?

Accepted Answer

Ofcourse not!  Any Hard Drive from a Laptop is always a 2.5" Hard Drive.  This Device is only for 3.5" Hard Drives.  You would have to find a device that fits a 2.5" IDE Hard Drive.  I believe they are out there.  BTW, how do you know the hard drive in your laptop is IDE and not SATA?  If it is SATA, you would not have to do anything, except buy brackets that would make your 2.5" hard drive fit in a 3.5" Bay inside your Desktop.

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