Has anyone on the forum had experience hooking 3.5" hard drives to an Efika (in place of a 2.5" laptop drive)? I've got the adapter and a really short drive cable. Since I already have 3.5" drives this could save me some money.

why don't you just try ? it's not going to break your Efika.

Good point. The worst that could happen is a non-functioning system or some drive corruption. Thanks.

Hi Jim,

This was talked about over at PowerDeveloper.

Neko had said"we will not endorse and probably not treat you very nice if you extend the Efika IDE port with a cable.

It's not supported, there is a trace length restriction because of the way the port is multiplexed with other devices.

This is just how the MPC5200B works. No bridging connector or cable is going to get you a reliable ATA operation even if you connect it up right, and it may even make PCI and other bus functions act strangely.

The connector is like that for a HARDWARE REASON, not because we decided to screw with you all and restrict your options."

I think the only safe way is with a usb to ide adapter.



[ Edited by Nitro on 2009/2/10 19:24 ]

Ok, first thing!

FORGET THAT 2.5" to 3.5" CABLE!

That won't work and even if its working (probaly causing random IDE Trouble and bit errors) where do you want to hook up the drive. Simply forget it!

There is a better, saver, but also untestet option.

Get a 2.5" -> SATA interface. I once saw one you can screw in like a normal HD (using only the first two screws) and now you can connect a drive, as the SATA controller on that interface iliminates the wire length issue and you can mount the drive within standard SATA range.

This is only a hint and AFAIK was never testet, but there is no technical reason why it shouldn't work. You don't need to modify any hardware and the risk is limited to letting the harddrive fall onto the efika :)

And no, I don't know where you can get those interfaces, but they are out there :)

Geit


[ Edited by geit on 2009/2/10 20:40 ]

http://www.advantech.com/products/IDE-(44-pin)-to-SATA-Converter-Module/mod_1-2QFA1K.aspx

Quote:

No, seems to be the wrong direction. It looks like its ment to connect 2.5" pata hds to sata connectors.

The needed interface must have the same connectors as a 2.5" harddrive.

Well, the image isn't good and there is no description, but my guess is that its the wrong direction

Geit

Interesting! The documentation states "Suitable for SBC with 44-pin IDE connector". Therefore you would assume it adapts a 44 pin IDE connection to use an SATA drive.
As to the proposed 3.5 adapters, why wouldn't it work if it was really short? That seems to be the main constraint.

Quote:

Because the 44 pin IDE connector fits only into the hard drive and not into a main board/laptop.

This adapter seems to convert a 44pin 2.5" hard drive into a 2.5" sata hard drive.

The adapter needed needs a 44pin connector. Just look onto the efika or an 2.5" hard drive. You need the connector used on Efika and not used on the hard drive.

Geit

No, that doesn't explain the comment about the adapter being suitable for an SBC with a 44 pin IDE connector. If the adapter was to connect an IDE drive to an SATA port, then the documentation would have mentioned that conversion. Instead, it specifically mentions a motherboard with an IDE connector. Why would you need an adapter if your board already supports IDE drives?
If the male/female connector issue bothers you, there are 44pin to pin adapters, but I can't find a view of this adapter's connector to find out if its male or female.

Quote:

yeah, thats the main problem. a proper picture would explain its usage.

It seems many resellers try to sell more units by using weak information like this, so customers order the wrong version and then reorder another unit.

Same often happens with ide2cf and ide40 to sata.

Geit


[ Edited by geit on 2009/2/22 0:49 ]