SATA to IDE convertors - any good?

[joydivision]

I have a client with an old XP system, it needs a new hard drive, but has no SATA ports, he wants to repair it as he cannot afford the £300-£500 for a new system.

I can buy a new IDE for drive for £60.00 at 250gb, or I have a 320gb drive in stock but it is a SATA. Are these SATA convertors any good which connect to a SATA hard drive and have an IDE port to connect to the motherboard?

[NYJimbo]

Why not buy a cheap SATA card for the machine and you can put in multiple Sata drives ?

[ComputerRepairTech]

Originally Posted by NYJimbo

Why not buy a cheap SATA card for the machine and you can put in multiple Sata drives ?

You beat me to it, I was trying to think of a reason why he wouldnt go with a sata card.

[NYJimbo]

Originally Posted by ComputerRepairTech

You beat me to it, I was trying to think of a reason why he wouldnt go with a sata card.

I actually keep a few in stock for when I get a messy situation on a XP box that the customer really wants to keep.

[compnet]

I agree on the sata cards.. the only time we use sata to IDE converters is in DVRs where there isn't a pci slot. They work alright in my experience

[joydivision]

The HD convertors are £5, the PCI cards are closer to £20.00. That is why I suspect there must be some performance hit with the cheap ones.

For this system I think I will just buy an IDE drive.

[DanF]

I've had to use these converters ones, and out of 2 none worked. Could be they are cheap stuff cause I got them from DealExtreme. If needed I would opt for a SATA expansion card instead.

[Galdorf]

I have sata->1de/ ide->sata converter i think i paid like $5 for all in one converter they seem to work good so far not one has failed yet.