IDE -> sata adapter

[PeterS]

Back in 2015 I bought a Startech pata to sata adapter to try to use in the Milan. The goal was to switch to sata drives and a sata PSU.

The adapter goes in the MB IDE port and with a mod to remove the plugged hole for the pin that the Milan has, it goes in nicely. This adapter alows you to connect 2 sata drives to one IDE port so I could have 2 sata in one and 2 IDE in the other.

I tried to partition a salvaged sata drive and although it seemed to work, mke2fs wouldn't write the partition. Also, the Mian wouldn't always detect the drive at boot-up either or would crash.

After a few attempts it became apparent that the drive was corrupted and even repeated attempts at fixing it in an Ubuntu box failed. I assumed it was just a duff drive and tried another with the same result. I tried the adapter in the Ubuntu box but it was no better.

Annoyed I gave up and the adapter has sat gathering dust until a few weeks ago when I was tidying up. I ordered a really cheap (£2) single sata adapter and tried that. This one only connects 1 sata to the IDE interface but it worked and I could access a sata DVD.

So I went onto the Startech website and left a note about my experience. I was surprised when they got in touch and said they has a lifetime warranty and promptly replaced the pata2sata adapter. Nice one.

I put it in the Ubuntu box with a sata HDD and a sata DVD and it was able to install ubuntu. So this adapter works.

Sadly back in the Milan, it didn't reliably recognise the DVD at boot up. When it did recognise it, it would sometimes read the root folder and then crash or just crash as soon as I accessed it.

I have no idea why it behaves so differently in the Milan, bus speed, voltages ?

[paul92706]

I too have a IDE --> Sata adaptor connected to a CF reader in my Falcon 060, and works flawlessy. I have not tried connecting a Sata DVD drive, hmmm maybe i will try when i find one!

[artik-wroc]

I have MegaST -> PAK -> Alan's IDE -> IDE-SATA adapter -> DVD.
Works well, but often does not detect the drive after a reset. Another reset and drive is visible.

[PeterS]

I used the DVD for the later testing because the adapter wouldn't be able to wreck like it had done to the HDDs,

I had hoped to use 2 adapters so I could have my usual 2HDDs and a DVD drive.

The cheap single drive adapter worked but I would only be able to have 2 drives in total.

[PeterS]

I had another attempt with the sata adapters in the Milan.

Much the same as before.

The drive is detected sometimes but not always. The Startech adapter seems less reliable than the cheap single drive adapter.

My thoughts are bad connections, insufficient power, frequency.

The psu is 230W but quite old.

[joska]

Maybe because these are ATA->SATA adapters, and not IDE->SATA adapters? I don't know if this matters.

I remember having similar problems when testing a few such adapters with my Firebee several years ago.

[PeterS]

The startech is a ide mb to sata hd adapter.

The cheap one can be used either way but the labelling isn't clear which sata is which. I have tried both.

Quoting my own OP:

I put it in the Ubuntu box with a sata HDD and a sata DVD and it was able to install ubuntu. So this adapter works.

Sadly back in the Milan, it didn't reliably recognise the DVD at boot up. When it did recognise it, it would sometimes read the root folder and then crash or just crash as soon as I accessed it.

I am thinking of fitting a new ATX psu with a power switch adapter and a couple of sata-molex power adapters.

[Rustynutt]

The BIOS been flashed/ upgraded on your board?
I've an early Milan, yet to do so.
It's fairly reliable at 16mhz, but flakey otherwise.
Michael sent his SCSI driver years ago, trying several cards never managed to get it functional.
Recall too, there is a small IC that can be upgraded to improve performance. According to the old user site.
Just now getting to try an IDE 2 SATA on a Falcon.

[PeterS]

I think it has all the bootblock and tos updates available but I don't think the SCSI stuff affects the ide ports.

The chip is as good thought. It hasn't been changed, not sure my skills are up to it.

[PeterS]

http://dev-docs.exxoshost.co.uk/Magnum_ ... glish).pdf

I checked the chips they are 6540 which is good.

[joska]

The startech is a ide mb to sata hd adapter.

Is it? Have you successfully tested it in a computer with an *IDE* port?

The IDE2SAT2 40-pin IDE to SATA adapter enables you to connect a SATA I/II/III drive to an available IDE/ATA 33/66/100/133 motherboard port

This suggests that it needs atleast ATA-4 (UDMA mode 2 and upwards). The Milan IDE is provided by the 82371FB Intel PCI->ISA/IDE bridge, which does not support these modes. Yes, ATA-4+ devices *should* be backwards compatible with older standards, but if the manufacturer did not care to actually verify this then there's a good chance it will never work with PIO which the Milan use. You will almost certainly get the same result if you try it in a Falcon.

[PeterS]

I tried the startech in an old mini ATX and it worked fine.

https://www.startech.com/support/PATA2SATA2

So this may answer the question.

[joska]

Yes, I'm afraid it does.

[PeterS]

Thanks again Jo Even.

I don't know about the various ide standards. I expected it to work or not work. It was the partial working that confused me.

[PeterS]

So would have to find/make an ide -> sata adapter compatible with the Falcon and Milan.

[PeterS]

I just wondered if anyone makes a pci->sata adapter and Startech do make one but it only has one internal sata and one external e-sata port and it would need a driver.

There are more options on a pci-express interface but that wouldn't fit in the Milan however they do make a pci->pci express adapter so in theory it would be possible.

[wongck]

I re-read your original post.

single ide-stata works because it is probably using master.

pata2stat - attaching 2 sata - probably mater & slave corruption.. if you can make sure which sata is master & slave probably on the pata2sata, it will work on an Atari... YMMV.
pata2sata works on PC may be because it does cable select.

I had a ide-sd adapter, may be 10years now, and it will fail to work if I put it on with my HDD on my Falcon. If it is alone, no problem works nicely. My conclusion is that it does not know how to do mater/slave arbitration.

[PeterS]

I only had 1 device on the sata adapter.

[wongck]

I only had 1 device on the sata adapter.

OK

[PeterS]

I don't suppose that Intel 82371FB could be upgraded to a later one (SB or AB) by some soldering whizz ?

Probably different packages, pinouts.

What did they use in the Milan II prototypes ?

[joska]

Maybe possible, but definitely a HUGE job. If SATA is important it's probably much easier to write a driver for a PCI SATA card.

[PeterS]

I had a search for the pinouts, they are very different. It was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, well beyond my skills.

Sata drives are about a quarter of the price of pata drives and go beyond 750GB which seems to be the upper limit for ide.