IDE to sata converter wont show the hard drive in windows 2003 server

Did the converter have instructions for setting the IDE drive's jumpers? Usually you need them to be set to the Master position.

Is the SATA port you are using Enabled?

How is the SATA port's mode set? You may be using AHCI mode on real SATA drives, but this port probably should be set to IDE (or PATA) Emulation mode.

Where are you looking when you say Windows is not recognizing it? If it is not showing in My Computer, you should look for it in Windows Disk Management. specifically in the scrolling LOWER RIGHT pane. That pane shows you all hardware devices attached and apparently working, even though Windows has not figured out how to use it. If is shows there but NOT in the upper right pane as a usable drive, then the details displayed in the lower right pane can tell us what might be wrong. Report that info here if it's still not working.