Possible to swap 2.5" Pata HDD for Sata SSD?

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blauer

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Dec 5, 2010
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I just got a new SSD for an older laptop. Cause of the rather small capacity of the SSD the plan was to use
a drive caddy to replace the DVD drive. Using the caddy I would be able to also have the original HDD as well.

Now when all parts arrived I discovered I messed up on one part. Both HDD and DVD on laptop is PATA.
And of course buying the SSD at bargin prices I ended up with SATA SSD.

I would really like to be able to use the SSD for the laptop to gain some much needed boost to the old laptop.
Seems there are only two possible options except buying yet another SSD now with PATA interface.

One way would be to use a Pcmcia raid controller card and use the SSD as an external drive. While that would give me more speed the downside is the need to use the SSD with cables attaced between SSD and controller. Also the SSD will lay around on the desk. Not the best option for a laptop as the laptop might actually be used outside the house as well. The other option would be to find some sort of adapter that will fit between the SSD and the caddy. Have anyone done this allready? What about this Pata to Sata Adapter, will this work?


cooldrives_2074_37542403.jpg
 
Solution
J
Best option if you purchased from a reputable supplier, would be to ask if you can return it in exchange for pata, or a refund. They will probably charge a restocking fee or similar charge.
The sooner you do this the better chance you have of a positive outcome as most will have a time limit on returns.
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

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Aug 29, 2006
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1) Laptops tend to be environments with very, very little free space. There is a good chance that the converter would not fit. From your own link: "Suitable for POS Systems (will not fit into most laptops)." I wonder what POS stands for there; more likely Point-Of-Sale than the more common Piece-Of-<deleted>.

From the picture, even if you could live with the length the height would be a big issue.

2) Can you return the SSD? Tom's had a bit on PATA SSDs, which I would think are scarcer than hens' teeth. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/PATA-SSD-SHD-NHPU2-SATA,10190.html. Maybe you can't return an "SSD at bargain prices."

3) Sorry that I don't have anything actually useful to tell you. More of a "Nope, can't do that" answer. I hope that you can prove me wrong!
 
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Jonmor68

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Best option if you purchased from a reputable supplier, would be to ask if you can return it in exchange for pata, or a refund. They will probably charge a restocking fee or similar charge.
The sooner you do this the better chance you have of a positive outcome as most will have a time limit on returns.
 
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Solution
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blauer

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Dec 5, 2010
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Yeah I might be able to get store credit in return but when it comes to PATA SSD the prices are still very high. Another issue with PATA SSD is that you can not find them "anywhere". Sure you might find them online but the price will be too high and even if I could find one in cragis list, ebay og whatever I could not pay with my store credit. On this side of christmas my wallet is as thin as the next guy's. So it is either to take my chances and hope the height of 17 mm is not too much for the caddy or to continue the slowness of the HDD. Or maybe with a little help of dremel, crazy glue and duck-tape I can hammer things into shape?

I think I must go for the hammering option. I really feel like having the laptop upgraded....even though it turned out not to be so straight forward job as I thought.
 
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MRFS

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Dec 13, 2008
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You should remove the existing 2.5" PATA HDD
and photograph the male and female connectors.

Here's $0.25 on a bet that your adapter won't work
because of those connectors.


On some laptops, like Dell, there is a custom adapter
which is required for the parallel pins to mate with
the motherboard's native connector.


So, do a DRY RUN and share your photos with us here!


p.s. The ATA-133 bus has an absolute upper limit of
32 bits @ 33 MHz = 1,056 Megabits per second,
or just about 133 MB/second. As such, the raw bandwidth
of your PATA bus will be the limiting factor.

Instead of trying to squeeze a late model SSD into your laptop,
I'd strongly suggest that you upgrade your 2.5" PATA HDD
to a higher performing PATA model e.g. Western Digital Scorpio Black:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=130


MRFS
 
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blauer

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Hmm. Tks for the input MRFS but order allready placed so I will fold my hands and wait this one out.
I am not replacing the HDD, rather I am removing the DVD rom. Replacing the DVD tray with an ide caddy for 2nd harddrive on laptops. As the caddy has the needed ide interface I will try to place the adatper in between the SSD and the ide 2nd HDD caddy connectors.


Regarding bandwidth issues I will give you credit. But do remember that other factors apart from bandwidth also comes into play. Hardly no latancy govern for no need to wait for spinup of traditional HDD. Also I/O is significant higher on SSD. So even if I will not be able to get the max out of the SSD due to bandwidth limitations I will still experiance a rather large real life improvement of speed and repsonse.
This will translate into faster responding overall system. Less lag with many simultaneous operations, faster start of programs and just a general perception of faster and smoother system.

However if I am not able to hammer things into shape I will take your advice and opt for a new faster HDD and still will get little extra performance and at least the warm feeling of security knowing that the HDD is brand new and have many years of use left in it.
 
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Samuel Sutherland

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Apr 22, 2013
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so i am curious is it possible to put a sata hard drive into a pata hard drive type computer. cause i have a hp pavilion zv 5000 laptop that has a 10 GB hard drive and i would like to have at least 250 to 320 in it. and ideas and help choosing the best route to go in upgrading my hard drives memory space would be greatly appreciated at this point because as it is right now i have absolutely no more room for updates and all the programs i need for school and i absolutely do not have the funds to get a new laptop at this point in time.
 
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