[SOLVED] Bought a SATA DVD player/recorder and only have IDE cables on motherboard

Gregg Bell · 06-13-2016, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

I don't know the quality so difficult to say except you get what you pay for. Without any reviews I would be reluctant to buy one but since they are so cheap you could be several models...

An IDE connector is basically 40 pin (2x20) IDC form factor. Pin 20 is unused and a key so you do not plug the cable in backwards. If you look at the cable side you will see that pin 20 is a blank.

Thanks Michael. And thanks for the explanation about the pins. And so would that 39 pin one actually be the same as (what they are calling) the 40 pin one? And would those cheaper ones work? (I mean, I know the quality might mean they'd be DOA or not work but in principal they should work, right?)

michaelk · 06-13-2016, 11:31 PM

Yes they are the same. In principal they should work.

Gregg Bell · 06-13-2016, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

The speed of the spinning media in the case for optical drives makes it so SATA isn't any faster than IDE, except with the newest blu-ray drives.

That said, for the price, if you get a good priced adapter, won't be a bad overall price so won't hurt though.

Thanks Timothy. Yeah, I thought of that, but then I thought I didn't need the cables and so why would I get that one (the $18.39 one).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

I've also used the ones that you posted that were $2.99, and they worked for me.

Cool.

273 · 06-15-2016, 01:18 PM

Are you sure that this device only has 1 SATA port? Have you checked on the motherboard where the SATA data cable plugs in to make sure it's not one of a pair? I am sure it's possible it's so old they only gave it one SATA port to be "modern" but it seems weird.
Perhaps it is just the cable you're missing? In that case you're likely to be missing the SATA power cable so might need a Molex to SATA power connector.

beachboy2 · 06-15-2016, 01:53 PM

As far as I can recollect this particular Dell machine has a single SATA port on the motherboard for the hard drive.

Gregg Bell · 06-15-2016, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

Are you sure that this device only has 1 SATA port? Have you checked on the motherboard where the SATA data cable plugs in to make sure it's not one of a pair? I am sure it's possible it's so old they only gave it one SATA port to be "modern" but it seems weird.
Perhaps it is just the cable you're missing? In that case you're likely to be missing the SATA power cable so might need a Molex to SATA power connector.

Thanks 273 but it's only the 1 SATA port on the motherboard. (I checked.)

Gregg Bell · 06-15-2016, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

As far as I can recollect this particular Dell machine has a single SATA port on the motherboard for the hard drive.

Yep.

273 · 06-16-2016, 12:47 AM

Fair enough, I did forget that Dell tend to have odd motherboards and the like.