Writeup Maxxtro SATA - IDE converter

Write-up Maxxtro Sata – IDE converter

If you’re like me and constantly get bitten by the upgrade bug you probably have all kinds of pc hardware lying about. Most of the time I find I use for old stuff to build servers and media centres. Sometimes though there is a huge technological shift that changes both interface and protocols, like the shift from IDE to SATA technology. So what to do when you have lots of data on old IDE drives and only SATA on your main computer. Luckily there are converters for this like the Maxxtro made by www.maxxtro.ch

Ok so a write-up about a converter is not very interesting, I know. The reason I’m doing it is because most of the IDE-SATA converters out there are crap. EBay is flooded with cheap Chinese no-brand ones, which I tried. They failed to recognize certain drives and the drives they did recognize where dropping out at random intervals. So when I finally found one that works I thought I’d do a write-up.

The converter itself is pretty nicely constructed. Contrary to many of the no-brand ones this converter has a small cable between the PATA and converter interface. Most of the cheap ones on eBay have everything on a small circuit board that you plug into the back of the IDE drive. This can get pretty difficult in tightly cramped cases. In my Fractal define R3 the drives are mounted turned 90 degrees compared to regular “old” style cabinets. This means that the cables from the drives go directly towards the side of the cabinet. The circuit board type converters can be a really tight fit here and might crash with the inside wall of the case. So I like Maxxtro’s design choice much better. The cable is easily tucked upwards or downwards from the drive to avoid space at the back of the drives.

The cable has a small slide type switch on it for choosing which direction the data goes. This is because it’s bidirectional and so can be used for either IDE to SATA or the other way around. Of course I forgot to check the switch before booting my computer and so the drive did not show up at all. Luckily the switch is easy to get to even after install. The converter has a led light on it to show that it’s working, if you have a see through case I guess it would be handy, I guess? No drivers are needed, this is all plug and play and the converter is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operative systems. The adapter is powered by a molex plug that splits into the adapter and IDE harddisk. It also works with CD and DVD ROMs.

A small cable makes the adapter easy to tuck over or under the harddisk

Performance.

This is not a very scientific performance test but strictly made for informational purposes. I compared my native SATA drive, which is a WD Caviar Blue 1TB 7200rpm drive type WD10EZEX, and a Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm IDE drive type Deskstar P7K500. Now the SATA drive will be quicker, not only because of the newer interface, but also because it’s a larger drive and larger platters generally seek faster than smaller ones. But anyways, although they’re note directly comparable the results are here. You wouldn’t buy one of these converters for quicker data access anyway.

Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA results

Hitachi Deskstar PK7500 IDE results

As you can see you loose quite abit of speed by using a converter.

Conclusion

A SATA – IDE converter that just works and is pretty cheap. No stability issues so far.