7 year old IDE vs used SATA on eBay

[scubaslim]

I'm building a "new" computer for my grandmother on the world's smallest budget. I'm reusing as much as possible, but for me to use her current hard drive (which is 7 years old), I'd need to get a IDE to SATA converter (which I've read can be sketchy). For just a bit more money, I could grab a used SATA hard drive on eBay. I know the rule is to not use used hard drives, right? Either option I'm basically using a "used" hard drive. Any advice or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[scubaslim]

really? nobody can offer an opinion?

 

[abbadon_34]

dude, chill out, this is a bulletin board, not an instant message, a few hours won't kill ya

i've used ide to sata converters and they were hit or miss, most likely from cheap components . i'd just use a board with IDE, they still make them, or one lying around . but if you need to ...gulp...buy it on ebay

 

[scubaslim]

sorry, but ya know, 40 people looked at it... they could've clicked an answer..

I'm going to be using a board with IDE, but that's already going to be occupied by the optical drives. It seems impossible to find a board with 2 IDEs these days.

 

[abbadon_34]

does your grandmother really need two optical drives?

 

[scubaslim]

"need"? probably not, but she does want 2 because she burns CDs. Plus, I'm not really sure how to put an optical drive and hard drive on the same IDE. I tried once long ago and it didn't work properly. I also read that if they're on the same IDE cable, transferring data from the CD to HDD takes an extremely long time... not sure how accurate that is though

 

[abbadon_34]

considering it's for "grandmother on the world's smallest budget" it's not a problem. Put one CD burner in. Put one IDE hard drive in. Yes, it's a true transferring on a single cable is slower, but in this case I doubt there would any difference. You will probably have to fiddle with the jumpers on the hard drive. Swap places on the cable, switch from primary, slave, auto. It will work eventually. It's been done for over a decade before SATA.

 

[Solandri]

Why do you need an IDE to SATA adapter? What's wrong with a PCI IDE controller card? Those are usually $10-$20 and are very reliable.

Another option would be getting a SATA DVD burner. Those are about $15.

 

[scubaslim]

Why do you need an IDE to SATA adapter? What's wrong with a PCI IDE controller card? Those are usually $10-$20 and are very reliable.

Another option would be getting a SATA DVD burner. Those are about $15.

getting a SATA optical drive certainly is an idea. i guess that'd be a vote towards using the IDE hard drive. I think her HDD is 80gb. a used 80gb SATA HDD is only $15 as well though