SATA laptop drive installed into a PC ..?

[datora]

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(Hopefully) a quick question.

I have a SATA laptop drive in an external case.  I would like to connect the drive directly to my PC (bypassing the USB interface).

I think this is cool ... the data and power connectors look identical, and I think I've heard that this is part of the benefits of SATA design: that you are supposed to be able to do this.

But ... have any of you guys actually done this?  Any considerations or dangers to be aware of?

I'm trying to accomplish two things:  1) I want to be able to quickly fill and empty the portable drive.  2) I have an opportunity to get a free SATA laptop drive that I'd like to use to upgrade an old PC with, as in, clone the existing ancient (and I think dangerously unstable) PATA drive over to the laptop SATA and use that as the OS/install system drive.

All opinions welcome, especially when backed up by experience &/or a link or two with good info resources.

Thank you!

[Freedom Kira]

This is perfectly fine, yes. Take a look at 2.5" SSDs - they can be used in laptops or desktops.

Since you're probably not keeping it in there permanently, this probably won't pertain to you, but if you do intend to keep it in there permanently, do consider a 2.5" to 3.5" mounting bracket similar to those included with 2.5" SSDs.

But do keep in mind that you will likely void the warranty if you open up your external, unless you put it in there yourself.

[datora]

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Thank you very much! 

So, I'm all ready to plug and go and .... the fricking power supply for the system doesn't have SATA power connectors.  This on a system with a mobo that has SATA capability, and is blatantly advertised on the front of the case.

uuurrrrghh!

So.  I've got a burned out PSU in a corner (from last year's lightening strike), and I'm about to clip off one of its SATA power connectors and wire it to the working PSU, only to notice the SATA connector uses five wires and the PATA connectors use four.

*!head!bang!to!desk!head!bang!to!desk!head!bang!to!desk!*

Ohhhh.  Now it is ON, now it's personal.  Gonna MAKE this fucker work even if it kills me (always awesome famous last words when about to perform hard wiring h4Xez). 

No, no.  Don't anyone please suggest a simple PATA to SATA converter dongle.  This is gonna be a zero-cost hack even if it takes me a week.  Like I said, it's personal now ...


And, yeah, I've already got some metal strips I've bent & drilled to make a permanent mount to convert a 3.5" space for a 2.5" drive.  All my external storage cases are built from parts, so no warranties to void; the parts are either under warranty or have expired over the many years' of use I torment my equipment with.  Nothing is allowed to die; even when it does, their body parts are sewn into frankencontraptions so that my zombie army may live.   

[kitamesume]

theres a ton of Molex-to-Sata converters on most PC shops for less than 5$.

something like this:
[4$] Rosewill 6" Molex 4pin Male to Two 15pin SATA Power Cable Model RC-6"-PW-4P-2SA

[Freedom Kira]

I wonder if you've finally lost it. Not even gonna consider getting a converter for <$5, and wiring it yourself instead? The time spent and the risk isn't worth it IMO.

But, if you still insist... Somehow those PATA to SATA converters only use four wires. So perhaps it's possible, but... still seems risky. There's always a chance that they do some weird wiring in the converter. Google or talk to someone in the know before you try anything.

[NaRu]

Why dont you just run a sata cable to the drive and use the external encloser to power the drive. It doesnt have to be powered by the PSU

[Freedom Kira]

Isn't that a bit hard to do? Usually enclosures have both the power and signal connectors soldered rigidly right onto the controller card, so you can't just plug one in and not the other.

[Lupin]

I wonder if you've finally lost it. Not even gonna consider getting a converter for <$5, and wiring it yourself instead? The time spent and the risk isn't worth it IMO.

But, if you still insist... Somehow those PATA to SATA converters only use four wires. So perhaps it's possible, but... still seems risky. There's always a chance that they do some weird wiring in the converter. Google or talk to someone in the know before you try anything.

There's no risk using those converters. The 3.3V wire missing in the converter isn't used much by drive manufacturers. Missing that wire won't kill the drive but it's possible that the drive might under perform or not work if it requires it.

[datora]

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I wonder if you've finally lost it.

 

Oh, I haven't finally lost it.  I lost it a long time ago.  No need to wonder about it.  

I probably will end up buying a converter.  However, running into the frustration of a SATA system with no SATA power connectors plus the 5 wires vs. 4 wires "issue" has intrigued me to the point of wanting to understand this black magic.  I'll certainly waste an hour or three (when I have it) to google up an explanation.

If it's easy, I've done enough basic wiring that it should be trivial.  The 5th wire is probably something that can be either ignored or patched into one of the other four.  If you don't hear from me again, you'll know what happened.

Did I ever tell you about the time .....

Once, I worked where a radiator was trapped under the desk I worked at.  The heat build up was insane.  In a fit one afternoon, I cut 3 meters of speaker wire from a broken pair and patched it into my computer's PSU so that I could connect a couple of old case fans and mount them on the radiator to keep my balls cool.  Ahhhhhhhh.  Sweet relief!  Every time I powered my computer on.  


As far as the external case for the laptop drive, it is an integrated solution.  Cannot separate out power & data connections without performing serious and probably destructive mod.  It's a nice little case & I very much wish to preserve it for future use.

[Freedom Kira]

There's no risk using those converters. The 3.3V wire missing in the converter isn't used much by drive manufacturers. Missing that wire won't kill the drive but it's possible that the drive might under perform or not work if it requires it.

You might have slightly misunderstood my post. But anyway, if there's no kind of special wiring needed for that wire, I guess it's alright for him to wire it himself.

I probably will end up buying a converter.  However, running into the frustration of a SATA system with no SATA power connectors plus the 5 wires vs. 4 wires "issue" has intrigued me to the point of wanting to understand this black magic.  I'll certainly waste an hour or three (when I have it) to google up an explanation.

Oh, please do buy one. You should be spending at most 15 minutes for $5. =P

But if Lupin says it's fine, I'd assume it's fine. The explanation is right there, btw, no need to Google.

Once, I worked where a radiator was trapped under the desk I worked at.  The heat build up was insane.  In a fit one afternoon, I cut 3 meters of speaker wire from a broken pair and patched it into my computer's PSU so that I could connect a couple of old case fans and mount them on the radiator to keep my balls cool.  Ahhhhhhhh.  Sweet relief!  Every time I powered my computer on. 

That sounds intense. You couldn't just break the radiator?

[kitamesume]

doesn't radiators have valves or switches in it that controls how much heat will get released? kind of odd for it to not include one.

[datora]

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Got my external (Samsung) 250 GB laptop drive to read and work just fine.  Temporarily, I turned my cooked system on.  The PSU on it works, although other parts are done for.  Used the power feed off that to juice the drive while the data cable is connected to the older back-up computer, then boot & joy.  I'll work on the exact wiring issues later and report back.  Don't yet have the drive I've been promised to replace the current PATA system drive.

My larger 3.5" drives don't detect at all on this SATA controller; shows up as "VIA Bus Master IDE Controller," so that gives me no confidence.  One is 750 GB Western Digital Caviar Black & the other is 2 TB Samsung F4 Spinpoint.  Might need to flash the BIOS for high drive capacity, or locate/install some driver ... but, the 750 GB drive at least should have detected.  Weird.  I really hate Compaq; all sorts of proprietary junk that never works properly when you need to upgrade or tweak it.


As far as the radiator anecdote goes, mostly I posted that for the lulz.  It was a weird little hardware hack using junk that had been stuffed into a cabinet.  The radiator was the source of warmth in the room, so turning it off or turning it down would have made the room quite cold ... keep in mind several other factors: Latvia, mid-winter, old Soviet steam radiator system (once it's on, it is ON like it's incubating dragon's eggs), single-pane windows that didn't shut entirely, nice "breeze" whistling in off of several hundred hectares of ice covering the nearby Daugava river ...

My solution kept me from getting cooked sterile and still circulated the heat to keep the rest of the room at a tolerable temperature for everyone.  Even our Russian programmer was impressed by my jurry-rigged, American solution.  Told me the room seemed more comfortable than he could remember it for several winters.

[AnimeJanai]

Check out the kingwin drive bays:

3.5" drive version: http://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-KF-2000-BK-SATA-Swap-Mobile/dp/B000SOSI1Q

2.5 / 3.5 combo:  http://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-2-5-Inch-3-5-Inch-Tray-Less-KF-252-BK/dp/B004LXJXSW

There's a model that lets you put four 2.5 inch SaTa drives into one 5.25 inch bay.