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#1 2008-02-02 1:23 pm
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember

- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1134
Round peg in square hole?
So, I had filled up an external HDD and wanted to wipe it, put it in my Dell and buy a larger capacity HDD.
So I bought one, but now I've come to realize that chipset in the Dell is for SATA drives and my old external is an IDE iirc. Is there some sort of attachment or card that I can put in there so that the Dell can recognize my old HDD?
I really just don't want two external drives taking up space on my desk.
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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#2 2008-02-02 3:04 pm
- Light Speed
- Doubter of Einstein

- Registered: 2002-08-17
- Posts: 3694
Re: Round peg in square hole?
Maybe the Dell forums would have more info?
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#4 2008-02-02 3:53 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR

- Registered: 2001-12-27
- Posts: 8808
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Re: Round peg in square hole?
What model Dell? Some of the smaller desktop models do not take standard sized PCI cards and require a purchase from Dell.
If yours is in a tower case, then as Alien wrote: a PATA/IDE PCI card should work. If you are taking one from an older machine, you should check the model number of the card and make sure that it supports ATAPI-6 otherwise it will not work with hard drives larger than 128 GBs (any new purchase is likely to support ATAPI-6).
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#6 2008-02-03 2:54 am
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember

- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1134
Re: Round peg in square hole?
Alien, I think I remember seeing one in there, but do ATA channels also carry power to components, because when I'm hooking up the drives to the ex enclosures, there's always more than just one thing to plug in.
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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#7 2008-02-03 3:04 am
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember

- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1134
Re: Round peg in square hole?
D'Eyncourt wrote:
What model Dell? Some of the smaller desktop models do not take standard sized PCI cards and require a purchase from Dell.
If yours is in a tower case, then as Alien wrote: a PATA/IDE PCI card should work. If you are taking one from an older machine, you should check the model number of the card and make sure that it supports ATAPI-6 otherwise it will not work with hard drives larger than 128 GBs (any new purchase is likely to support ATAPI-6).
No need to worry on size, it's a dimension 8400.
That's what I was thinking, that there was some sort of PCI card made for this purpose.
Anyone know of any Ubuntu issues associated with installing a PCI card like this? Some of the comments on the cards over at Newegg seem consistent with them having difficult tendencies.
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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#9 2008-02-03 11:18 am
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember

- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1134
Re: Round peg in square hole?

Moved again? Res had a PC related thread lately in Everyday Tech, or whatever it's called, and it wasn't moved. ::insert unfair childish finger pointing::
You make me sad.
Yeah, I just don't know which ones are power connectors....
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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#11 2008-02-03 5:02 pm
- Bat
- Flawless Cowboy
- Royal Wombat

- From: Björk, Björk
- Registered: 2001-05-14
- Posts: 28541
Re: Round peg in square hole?
Yup. 
CrashingtehWarehouse wrote:
Alien, I think I remember seeing one in there, but do ATA channels also carry power to components, because when I'm hooking up the drives to the ex enclosures, there's always more than just one thing to plug in.
You gots your 40/80-conductor wide ribbon cable for signal, and narrower, heavier-gauge 4-pin Molex for power. Optical drives sometimes use a third, tiny connector for audio. Don't worry about that for your present purposes.
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion - George Bernard Shaw
"Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."
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#12 2008-02-04 1:42 pm
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember

- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1134
Re: Round peg in square hole?
So, whatever fits eh? Sounds good.
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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