SATA to USB host

[Siggi]

I'm looking for something that allows me to connect a disk image from computer #1 to a SATA port on computer #2.

Something like this:

Is there anything out there that will let me do this? I would prefer it fit 2.5", but I guess even just the connector itself would work.

 

[JackTheBear]

You're not going to be able to access the drive through sata on computer 2 while it's still plugged into computer 1.

It's not clear what you're trying to accomplish, but it seems like burning the image to an extra laptop hard drive using computer 1 then plugging that hard drive into computer 2 would be the quickest easiest cheapest way to do this. If computer 2 is Windows/NTFS and the image is NTFS, you may have to take ownership of the (new) drive on computer 2 and change permissions on the disk to access it. If that doesn't help in your case, I think you need to give a little more information.

By "disk image" do you mean an .iso stored on the hdd in computer 1, or the image of the system hdd in computer 1?
What kind of image is it? NTFS/Windows? Something else?
Is computer 1 functional?
Is computer 1 on while you're trying to do this? If yes, can you set up a network share on computer 1, then mount the image on computer 2 with no need for the sata connection?
Are the computers Windows or Linux or something else?

 

[Siggi]

By "disk image" do you mean an .iso stored on the hdd in computer 1, or the image of the system hdd in computer 1?
What kind of image is it? NTFS/Windows? Something else?
Is computer 1 functional?
Is computer 1 on while you're trying to do this? If yes, can you set up a network share on computer 1, then mount the image on computer 2 with no need for the sata connection?
Are the computers Windows or Linux or something else?

It's a read/write disk image stored on a hard drive on computer #1. Whatever's on the disk image doesn't matter. Just that I can present the read/write disk image to computer #2 through a SATA interface.

 

[JackTheBear]

Siggi, I don't care what content is on the image, I'm just trying to help you with your issue. If the image is NTFS and computer 2 is a Windows PC, there are likely to be more steps to get Windows to see it because that disk image belongs to a different computer. But you didn't answer any of my questions, so I don't really know how to help you. If you need to access it by sata, burn the image onto a spare sata drive. You're not going to be able to access it by sata while the image still lives on a hdd plugged into computer 1.

 

[Siggi]

I'll be a bit more specific about what I'm trying to do:

Computer #2 is actually a PS3 console. (custom firmware)

I want to create multiple installs of the PS3 system software on multiple disks, but I don't have enough HDDs to do all of it. Rather than buy more HDDs, I'd think it'd be a little easier to create sparse disk images that reside on my computer, and it'll be faster to switch disk images rather than physically remove an HDD and put another one in.

Is this possible at all? Or is it not?

 

[JackTheBear]

I don't know enough about ps3 to help, but you are not going to be able to access the image stored on a hard drive attached to computer 1 by sata - that hard drive is already being controlled by the sata controller on computer 1. You might look into network booting. This looked interesting: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...gi.pdf&usg=AFQjCNESJ0eRrav0exqAYOq7hAOZz9vOVw

 

[Siggi]

It doesn't have to be PS3 specific. What I'm looking for should be able to work with any system.

I'm looking for something that allows a disk image (a read/write disk image, not a read-only disk image!) to be presented as a SATA disk on a SATA port. Not network boot. I'm not trying to connect a hard drive to two systems at the same time, I'm trying to connect a disk image that resides on a hard drive on one system to another system, and make it look like a physical hard drive.

 

[Viper GTS]

This kind of product exists for floppy drives:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_hardware_emulator

And (at least in read only form) for CD/DVD images:

http://isostick.com/
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-2-5-Inch-External-Enclosure-S2510BU3ISO/dp/B00E6EBPBO

I have never seen one for SATA, but I don't see why it couldn't exist. It could even operate much like an ISO Stick - You attach your own hard drive, load it with VHD files, and the controller presents whatever image you want through the SATA connection. Or perhaps more usefully a PCB that is SATA sized with an m.2 slot leaving room for all the control hardware.

This is far more likely to exist than your idea of connecting it to another computer - This should be a self contained device.

Viper GTS

 

[VirtualLarry]

You are looking for a "SATA protocol emulator". Those are generally development devices, and likely to be fairly pricy, if you can even find a place to source one.

What you are looking to do, is VERY uncommon.