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Dimension 4600 - run solely with a SATA hard drive - HOW do I do it? What do I need
I have an old Dimension 4600 I want to use for some video copying tasks so as not to burden my main PC.
There are two SATA slots on the 4600 motherboard, but no SATA power cable. I know you can use a SATA to PATA cable to run a SATA hard drive off an IDE hard drive with the SATA hard drive being a slave.
However, my IDE hard drives have failed, new IDE hard drives are pricey and I have a lot of spare SATA drives. Accordingly, I would like to run this 4600 with just a SATA drive.
I've found a Avolusion SATA to IDE Hard Drive Adapter (Covert SATA Hard Drive to IDE hard Drive) on Amazon which I assume would do the job.
My questions about this adapter, and which I hope forum members can answer for me, are as follows:
a) have any forum members had any experience with this adapter in either the 4600 or other IDE configured Dell Dimension machines )using only SATA hard drives)?
b) Will I need to buy any other cables or cards to make this adapter work like a SATA controller card (if so any suggestions on a card)?
c) what jumper settings do I have to change or set on 1) the 4600 motherboard 2) the SATA hard drive 3) the adapter?
I thank forum members for their help and advice in advance.
I very much appreciate any help you can give me.
rdunnill
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September 10th, 2012 20:00
I suggest buying a Molex-to-SATA adapter and a SATA data cable, and using those instead.
I have a 2350 working with an aftermarket SATA card, but that was a much more complicated deal than working with a machine designed for SATA, so I'll spare the details.
DELL-Vikram M
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September 10th, 2012 13:00
Hi gak1952,
Your system has SATA controllers and P3 and P5 power connectors so you can simpy connect SATA hard drive to the SATA controller on the motherboard using a SATA cable. You do not need to use SATA to IDE adapter and need not to change any jumper settings on the hard drive and the motherboard. Below is the picture of SATA cable:
I would also like to inform you that the master and slave configration works with IDE hard drives only. So, you will only be able to connect one SATA hard drive to one SATA connector on the motherboard at a time.
Once you connect the SATA hard drive to your system, I will recommend you to do the BIOS defaults:
Please reply if you have any further questions.
gak1952
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September 14th, 2012 08:00
What Molex-to-SATA adapter would you suggest? I'm not at all familiar with them. I already have a SATA data cable. What I'm hung up on powering a single SATA hard drive in a 4600. As with my reply to Viram M what I can't see is how to connect a single SATA drive to the 4600 power unit without using an adapter like the Avolusion SATA to IDE Hard Drive Adapter. Is the Avolusion what you mean by a Molex-to-SATA adapter?
Thanks for your advise. I very much appreciate it.
gak1952
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September 14th, 2012 08:00
Thanks for the suggestion. I can see that I can use a SATA cable to connect the SATA drive to the motherboard. But would this POWER the SATA hard drive? I don't see any cables for powering a SATA hard drive inside the 4600. All I see are IDE power cables for powering IDE hard drives. The SATA hard drives I have don't have any connections for IDE power connection cables like P3 and P5.
I also know I can get a SATA cable with a PATA connection. What I don't understand is how I can attach this PATA connection to the 4600 power unit. I'd be grateful for any suggestions you have for this. Anyway, I just want to run a single SATA drive in my 4600.
The only solution I can see is the Avolusion SATA to IDE Hard Drive Adapter that I mention in my post.
rdunnill
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September 15th, 2012 00:00
You want something like this: www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx
gak1952
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September 15th, 2012 07:00
OK, but my still is, what do I connect the IDE connector end to? This is what I don't understand? Suggestions/help please!
Thanks for your continued help. I very much appreciate it.
rdunnill
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September 15th, 2012 21:00
You don't: you connect the Molex end of the power adapter to a power plug from the power supply, and the other end to the back of your SATA drive. One end of the SATA data cable goes to a SATA post on the mainboard, and the other end goes to the data connector on the SATA drive.
The adapter you referred to is completely unnecessary, as the 4600 has two SATA posts.
gak1952
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September 16th, 2012 07:00
Thanks. I get it now. Sorry for being so obtuse!
Thanks for bearing with me. I very much appreciate it.