IDE to SATA problem

[richj]

I had an ASUS P5Q Pro MB and used an IDE to Sata conveter that plugs into the back of a DVD drive or a hard drive. This setup worked fine.

I now have an ASUS P8z77 V Pro and I cannot get either a HD or a DVD drive to work with the converter.

Do I have to make changes in the BIOS or is there some trick I need to know.

Rich J

 

[Paperdoc]

I assume you mean your HDD and optical units were IDE type, and you are using the converter to connect them to a mobo SATA port. If that is so, recognize that the IDE units are exactly that - they are not SATA drives (which also are AHCI devices). Boot directly into BIOS Setup and go to where the SATA ports are configured. Ensure they are enabled (already set that way, I expect) and then look for a line nearby that sets the SATA Port Mode, with options like "IDE (or PATA) Emulation", "AHCI, "Raid", etc. Set it to "IDE (or PATA) Emulation)". This has the BIOS intervene and make sure the device attached to the SATA port is treated exactly like an older IDE device, and in your case that is exactly right. Save and Exit to preserve this BIOS setting.

There could be one snag in this. Many mobos with this feature only allow you one setting, and it applies to all the SATA ports at once (or, at least, to all the ones run by the mobo's main SATA controller chip). So if you already have actual SATA units attached to nearby ports, you end up making them also behave as IDE devices. You lose a few small features of AHCI devices, but usually that is acceptable. A few mobos allow separate settings for each SATA port, so you can keep some SATA ports as real SATA ports. Just check that all your drives are behaving properly after making this change.

 

[richj]

Best answer selected by richj.