How to get SATA on non-SATA mobo

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January 24th, 2007, 05:36 PM
mcseguy9

How to get SATA on non-SATA mobo

I'm thinking I'd like to add SATA capability to a non-SATA capable mobo. Is it simply a matter of buying something like this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816132007 - and installing it in your PC? I don't know anything about SATA except for the two different speeds/standards (1.5 vs. 3.0) so I'm kind of lost. The PSU is SATA power capable, and another question is if that is what I plug into the card (look at the card and I think you'll see what I mean)?

The way I picture it is I buy the card, install it, plug the SATA power into it that comes from my PSU, and than plug an external SATA hard drive into the PCI card. Is that all there is to it?
January 24th, 2007, 05:51 PM
Steve R Jones

Pretty much correct.
The power cord from the PSU will go to the back of the drive and not the new card.
January 24th, 2007, 05:55 PM
mcseguy9

Oh, okay. I got it. I was thinking all messed up. So the card not only provides an external port so that I can use an external SATA drive, but it also provides an internal port so I can install a SATA drive internally. Is that correct? If so, that's cool.
January 24th, 2007, 06:45 PM
SuperSparks

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcseguy9

So the card not only provides an external port so that I can use an external SATA drive, but it also provides an internal port so I can install a SATA drive internally. Is that correct? If so, that's cool.

Yep, that's it exactly. You can get enclosures that have the E-SATA port on them, so you can use an external drive at full SATA speeds using the external port.
January 25th, 2007, 10:18 AM
mcseguy9

One more question on this. I've seen a lot of PSU's that have only a single SATA power connector coming from it. Is that typical? I can't see how that would allow for multiple SATA drives to be used internally unless you buy one of these PCI cards or you find a PSU that has 2, 3, or 4 SATA power connectors.
January 25th, 2007, 10:20 AM
Steve R Jones

They make $1.99 converts to work with Sata's.
January 25th, 2007, 10:25 AM
mcseguy9

Oh duh. I knew that but for some reason that fact eluded me. Thanks for reminding me. Duh... =)
January 25th, 2007, 11:57 AM
SuperSparks

My Tagan PSUs have gone the other way, with nearly all SATA connectors, and only a couple of Molexes. But it came supplied with SATA to Molex connectors for legacy systems. I suspect most PSUs will end upo the samne as time goes on.