M2 to IDE adaptor - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2024, 08:18:27 pm
content: Can anyone suggest an M2 SATA to IDE 44 pin, 2.5" adaptor which they have used that works?Thanks.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2024, 08:56:23 pm
content: normally this one worked for me, since it has B + M notchhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/284581729312?but again, they do talk about the ngff next gen form factor ... who could play tricks, since it is a sata mode .... mine was okmeaning you have tried some ... and dont forget you will not gain tons of speed, since you translate sata to ide ... you do have ide 44 pins ssdsome like thishttps://www.ebay.com/itm/166652552663?

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2024, 02:26:36 pm
content: A solid state IDE, now that's interesting!

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2024, 02:50:52 pm
content: Just so that you know what I'm trying to achieve.......I have an old Pentium 4 laptop, it has a parallel port, so I thought I'd try and get it set up for the Micromaster LV48. The hard drive is 20 years old and very slow. So with an IDE adaptor, I could remove the worry about drive support.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2024, 09:32:55 pm
content: Hah, almost exactly the same situation as me, an old IBM T42 for old parallel port Agilent logic analyser and Dataman 48 EPROM programmer. I have a small SSD bodged in with a small bare IDE-mSATA PCB and a bit of cardboard a couple of years ago, very unsatisfactory. I hadn't realized 2.5" cased versions had become available. I ordered one of these (ebay UK) this morning...https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124256370900

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2024, 05:06:58 am
content: Although I have an M2 drive, let me know if that adaptor works when you get it, then I'll try one and get a mSata drive.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2024, 02:49:47 pm
content: Yes sure. IDE M2 adapters in the same form factor seem to be only a couple of £ dearer though. The guts look almost identical (apart from the connector slots presumably).I've picked up all my mSATA drives cheap on ebay so far, main brands and no duds. You really don't need anything big to support a couple of bits of legacy TE. I'm putting XP x32 SP2 on mine (the earliest that supports TRIM). Even a basic W7 x64 install only takes up less than 15GB so allowing twice that for drive longevity and the application s/w...

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2024, 03:04:00 pm
content: I've bought recently a couple SATA to 2.5"IDE(44pins) adapter:https://www.ebay.com/itm/205032074245I've tested with an Innodisk 3MG2-P slim(half-size, PCB only) thru an USB adapter, it works. Warning: the adapter has a master/slave jumper, which is set to slave by default.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2024, 05:02:04 pm
content: Quote from: Squarewave on November 01, 2024, 02:26:36 pmThat’s more or less what a CompactFlash card is.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 03, 2024, 11:25:02 am
content: Quote from: tooki on November 02, 2024, 05:02:04 pmYep. CF had an IDE interface. No fancy circuitry needed, just a physical pin adapter.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2024, 12:47:13 am
content: That’s what I thought, just wasn’t 100% sure. 👍

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 07:46:32 pm
content: @Squarewave:As promised, an update to say that I now have XP x32 running on my old Thinkpad using the IDE mSATA 2.5" adapter and Crucial M4 64GB mSATA drive. All working fine and fast. I see no reason why you should have a problem with the M2 version, or mSATA if you choose to go that way.Just a few notes that may be helpful (I've learned a few things from the web during setup)...- The installed size for XP x32 Pro, together with the collection of old Parallel port and other TE S/W comes in at 1.9GB. You really don't need a big SSD. As I think I mentioned previously, I've picked up all my mSATA SSDs cheap on ebay without a problem.- I mentioned earlier that I thought XP SP2 supports SSD TRIM. I've installed SP3 and found that this still isn't the case, it's a bit too early to know anything about SSDs. In practice, it doesn't appear to matter. There isn't likely to be enough data flying about for the SSD to have difficulties with slowdown. If you want to do a manual TRIM (I think later windows versions do one about once a week), there are standalone utilities. Naraeon SSD tools is one, but I think there are others.- Probably a more important one. For best endurance and performance, SSDs need to have their partition(s) 4k aligned. Later windows versions do this by default for SSDs, but the XP installer does not (something about using a 63 block offset rather than 64). To avoid this, it is easiest to create the primary partition on the SSD using a later version of Windows, and then have the XP installer install into the existing partition (you might be able to jump out to the command prompt on the installation CD and create the aligned partition that way but I didn't pursue it). Nareon will also tell you if your partition is correctly aligned or not. The first time I just used the XP installation CD and it complained, the second time I created the partition using W7 and all was fine.- Again, for minimum wear, it is helpful to optimize a few things - disable the Page File (should be fine if you have 2GB RAM), turn off indexing (search is fast on an SSD anyway), turn off system restore, etc. Naraeon has an optimize function to do these and a couple of others in one hit but there is discussion on line.- SSD-Z is also a useful standalone tool. It tells you basic SSD parameter data, partition alignment, SMART data etc. It doesn't have an option to initiate a manual TRIM though.I hope this helps.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 09:53:51 pm
content: Thanks for the write up, in fact I was thinking earlier about whether or not you've got your adaptor yet.All sounds good, apart from the laptop only has 512mb of ram, upgradable to max 1.5gb! I guess I could have a go anyway and see what happens.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 10:19:36 pm
content: You're welcome, yes it turned up yesterday. That should be more than enough for a prom programmer s/w without any significant performance hit, you might look for a cheap SODIMM on ebay though [EDIT: You need to check the laptop memory spec but around £2 seems to be the going rate for a 1GB SODIMM]. Nothing is 'essential', apart from the partition alignment maybe, as that effectively doubles the number of blocks accessed and hits performance. Keeping the page file wouldn't be the end of the world.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 07:59:24 am
content: Where do you buy your mSATA disks from? I can't seem to find any from my suppliers.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 11:12:22 am
content: Quote from: Squarewave on November 12, 2024, 07:59:24 amI've picked all of mine up on ebay. Two Sandisk X300 128GB, two Kingston 120GB, and a Crucial M4 64GB one. All very low hours, good SMART and cheap. Not a failure yet. It's handy to be able to keep them as boot drives for Linux and Win7 for two laptops (three counting my XP legacy equipment lab one). I can bolt them into my Thinkpads for longer term or use them in cheap 2.5" adapters for easy access.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2024, 10:48:00 am
content: Hopefully I'll find one then, as it doesn't appear that they can be bought new unlike the M2 format of SATA. If I could find one, I'll use the converter you used, as I'd rather use something someone says they have and works. Previously I tried an M2 STAT to IDE and it didn't work.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2024, 08:06:57 pm
content: I've bought that same adaptor as you have, as you say you have one and it works.I'm just waiting on an mSATA disk at the moment, one is with Royal Mail, but I'll have to wait until the middle of next week until I can collect it.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2024, 09:56:10 am
content: Quote from: Gyro on November 05, 2024, 07:46:32 pmAt those sizes, even SLC SSDs might becoming affordable, and you'll never have to worry about it wearing out with one of those.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2024, 03:03:59 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on November 05, 2024, 07:46:32 pmEventually, I got my mSATA disk, using the same adaptor as you, I can't get it to work..............I am having no luck with this at allThe same issue with the M2 SATA to IDE adaptor. Connecting to my IDE to USB adaptor, windows isn't seeing anything, disk manager isn't seeing anything.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2024, 03:23:47 pm
content: Ok, here's something strange. Using the IDE to USB adaptor, if I connect only the mSATA to IDE adaptor in, without the mSATA disk fitted, Disk Manager shows it as a removable drive with no media. Start again with the mSATA fitted and it doesn't show at all.What may that be indicating?

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2024, 05:26:31 pm
content: Ok, I tried this.....I installed it into my Pentium 4 laptop, not expecting anything at all. I put an XP installation disc in (this laptop won't boot from USB, not many options in the BIOS) and it appears to work. It found the HDD, correct size, formatted it and installed XP, I got as far as entering the licence key, but I don't actually know where mine is.So, strange why it won't be seen on the USB adaptor, which usually sees any other IDE disk I throw at it. Not a massive issue then as it looks like I've somewhere to go now.......

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2024, 07:16:23 pm
content: Curious that it wouldn't work on the USB adapter. I can't think of any reason other than some obscure 'incompatibility'. As long as it works when installed in the laptop though.Regarding XP licensing / activation. I was surprised to find that the offline telephone activation system still works using the UK number that XP provides. This was just a few weeks ago. You clearly don't want to expose an old XP machine to the web.Hint: Once you have typed in the activation code that the MS telephone system prompts you with,do not hit enteruntil you have noted it down. The next page tells you that this code can be re-used for future activations and there is no way to go back to the previous page!For XP there is also a standalone activation err, 'utility' to be found on the web, and also a utility that will extract the key and activation code from the registry if you have forgotten to write it down.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2024, 10:48:09 pm
content: Yes, strange how it wouldn't work on the USB, maybe it doesn't like being converted twice?I know Microsoft have uploaded ISOs to some archive page with activations. I must have the product key somewhere for my original installation disk, it may be attached to the book which comes with the disc.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2024, 09:27:13 pm
content: I did try the wmic get original product key command which works on some computers, but didn't work on this one to find the key.I've been in the loft today to go through all of my paperwork, couldn't find the product key, so will have to try a few other things, before burning a DVD with the installation ISO of one of the XPs from the archive.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2024, 10:14:38 pm
content: Ok another update, I used a utility to find the key from the 20 year old mechanical HDD, so it's now installing on my new SSD. I'm getting there.With the issues where it won't mount on the USB adaptor, I'll have to try an mSATA to regular SATA if I want to image the drive using my main computer perhaps. I guess this laptop is so old thats the reason why it doesn't support boot from USB, so I may have to do it that way, or create a bootable cloning disc.

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2024, 10:06:44 pm
content: Gyro, as you mentioned SSD alignment, I thought I'd report back with this. XP has been running fine, but I hadn't aligned the SSD, so I removed it, connected it to my W10 machine and deleted the volume, created a new one and formatted it, as W10 should do this, aligning the SSD.Put it back in the legacy laptop, installed XP and encountered disk read errors once the installation wanted to reboot......Restarted XP installation and used that to delete the volume, create and format, installed and it's fine....Any thoughts on why it doesn't like to be pre formatted elsewhere?

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2024, 11:09:02 am
content: @Squarewave: I've replied to your PM in this thread as PMs don't appear to allow attachments...QuoteHi, yes I confirmed this morning that my USB IDE adapter does work with the mSATA adapter. I'm using Linux on my maln laptop now, but I don't think that would affect basic accessibility - no problems anyway.As for the USB IDE adapter, it's a no-name one that I bought off ebay (as the cable sheath is starting to yellow, it's probably at the time when I was using up to date XP as my main OS!). It's one of those adapters that has a connector on one side for 3 1/2" IDE drives and a different pitch one on the other side for 2.5" IDE drives. The only lettering on both sides is "IDE-USB". Photo attached. I took a quick look inside and the interface chip is a GL811E (which would make it a Genesys Logic USB2 - ATAPI bridge controller, circa 2004).

author: Squarewave
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2024, 08:40:27 pm
content: Thanks for the testing, I'm just trying to see what my options are now going forward with imaging the drive, as this laptop won't boot from USB, won't boot a Clonezilla dvd/cd and I don't appear to be able to make a bootable image of the drive.So now I'm exploring PXE boot. It's not a big deal, as I only have XP and a few programmers on it, so it's an hour or so max if ever I needed to make another drive up.