Lite-On Slim Combo Slot-load Drive

[birhtnoth]

Hey all. I've been drowsing this forum for a couple of weeks now, you all seem to know your stuff pretty well.

I've just got a quick question about PATA drives. I've never even heard of the interface before, or even seen one before I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106031

I'll be using in it in a PC-in-iMac project.

Anyway, now that I've bought it, I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with these - specifically, have you used a converter, and would you recommend the apparently sketchy versions that plug directly into the back of the drive and then into standard IDE cable, or a PCI card.

Any help/stories/"you dumb fool, know what it is before you buy it" would be great.

 

[Harvey]

PATA is the same as ATA, and it's the same as the IDE standard. It stands for Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment, and the P was added to distinguish it from the newer, faster Serial Advanced Technology Attachment standard.

If that's the system your machine uses to connect to your hard drive, it should work with this drive, as well. Be sure to set the jumper correctly. A burner is usually set to be the Master drive on the secondary IDE channel. If your motherboard recognizes the "Cable Select" setting, it should automatically recognized a drive set for Cable Select as the Master drive if it is plugged into the far end of the cable.

Some boards have problems recognizing some drives when set to Cable Select. If so, or if the actual routing and placement of the cable makes it difficult to use the specific connector you want, set the drives on that channel manually to override the automatic selection.

 

[RaiderJ]

I use a drive like this in my mini-ITX system. You get a $5 adapter and then just plug into a regular IDE cable and molex power.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: birhtnoth
Anyway, now that I've bought it, I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with these - specifically, have you used a converter, and would you recommend the apparently sketchy versions that plug directly into the back of the drive and then into standard IDE cable, or a PCI card.

There's nothing "sketchy" about IDE pin convertors. Dollars to donuts there's one inside any laptop with a hot-swappable optical drive.

As RaiderJ pointed out, these are used in mini-ITX systems frequently. A simple $5 adapter will do the trick perfectly. (Note that you may be plugging in a floppy-drive sized power connector instead of the larger hard-drive sized.)

- M4H

 

[birhtnoth]

Thanks for the fast response. I called the adapters that plug directly into the drive sketchy because it looks like you have to solder the power connections directly to the board; the IDE cables plug in normally.

As in:

http://www.welovemacs.com/9224027.html

 

[Zap]

I have this to go with the same slot load Lite On drive. Works fine. Unfortunately I bought the drive almost a year ago at over $80, and the project I was gonna use it for got shelved. Ahh well.

 

[pkrush]

Uh, you don't have to solder anything to the drive. Both poer and data go through that one connector.