Can I convert external IDE/USB drive to eSATA?

[harlan_pepper]

My HDTV tuner w/DVR has an eSATA port that I can use to add storage. I have a spare IDE drive and an USB 2.0 external IDE enclosure. Is there any way I can convert this to an eSATA drive setup?

I was thinking that there might be a couple ways, but haven't had them confirmed or denied yet:
■ Is there a USB-to-eSATA converter/adapter that I can plug my USB enclosure's cable into to get the eSATA male end I need for the DVR?
■ Is there a IDE-to-eSATA converter/adapter that I could plug directly into my IDE drive and connect that to my DVR?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
HP

 

[rockchalk]

I'm not aware of anything that would let you convert the USB to eSata, but there is a way to convert from IDE. There are converters on the market that convert from IDE to SATA (~$10-$15). You can then get a SATA<->eSATA cable (~$5-$10) that will connect to the eSATA port on the DVR. Note that your cable length should be 1 meter or less, or else you can expect signaling problems.

 

[mattarrington2]

Where can I find a IDE to SATA or eSATA cable I have been looking everywhere and cant find one. If you know it would be much appritiated.
orderunashamed@gmail.com

 

[rlfranklin2]

Where can I find a IDE to SATA or eSATA cable I have been looking everywhere and cant find one. If you know it would be much appritiated.
orderunashamed@gmail.com

Look at Tigerdirect /Compu USA they have the cable/adapters in stock $ 15-20.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3481275&CatId=84

 

[idiscuss]

I'm not aware of anything that would let you convert the USB to eSata, but there is a way to convert from IDE. There are converters on the market that convert from IDE to SATA (~$10-$15). You can then get a SATA<->eSATA cable (~$5-$10) that will connect to the eSATA port on the DVR. Note that your cable length should be 1 meter or less, or else you can expect signaling problems.

Wait a second, where does the power for the hard drive come from? Remember he is using the IDE drive with a PVR, not inside a computer case.

 

[sminlal]

If I were you I'd buy an external enclosure with an eSATA interface and move the drive into it. The problem with a USB to eSATA adapter is that it will be bottlenecked by the slow USB protocol, and there's a chance it might not perform well enough for a PVR. There's a reason those things use eSATA connections and not USB.

 

[Paperdoc]

^+1 for sminlal's recommendation. It will work smoothly, other "fiddles" may not. Just make sure the enclose has a eSATA external interface to connect to the computer (or, in your case, to the PVR) and an internal interface for an IDE drive. When you do to install, pay attention to what the instructions say about how to set jumpers on the IDE drive for Master, Slave or CS.

 

[BDUAres]

I own an old ADS external IDE case built for both IDE optical and hard drives. I wanted a fast and cheap way to convert this to run a large SATA hard drive (Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB EADS) so I picked up a cheap IDE to SATA converter on Ebay for just a few dollars.

My external IDE case is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/ADS-Technology-External-Drive-USBX-804/dp/B000062TNZ


These IDE to SATA converters are a cheap Chinese adapter that allows you to plug an SATA drive into it, and plug an IDE cable and power plug into the back end, for running SATA drives on an IDE system. Their circuit board is exposed, and I found it wise to wrap black electrical tape around the small exposed circuit board so no metal would touch on bare contacts.

They look like this one:
http://www.cooldrives.com/sahadradtoid.html


I plugged the WD drive into the adapter, plugged the IDE cable and power plug in my ADS external case intot he rear of the adapter, and bolted the drive down inside the case.

My XP Pro SP3 system immediately saw the case and drive, and I was able to easily format the drive using the built in XP drive manager portion of the Administration tools. After formatting I was able to use the full 2TB size of the drive and it performs as well as any other USB 2.0 drive

So yes it is easily possible to run SATA drives externally in an older USB IDE case.

 

[BDUAres]

That same web site in my post above also has adapters which accomplish the reverse - allowing you to run IDE drives off an SATA port.

Again they are simple bare contact circuit boards which are quite cheap and need to be covered with black electrical tape in order to keep metal parts from contacting anything that can short them out.

They also sell simple cable/power rigs which will allow you to run any hard drive - IDE or SATA, 2.5" or 3.5", via USB, all in one set, and you can easily find these same things all over the internet these days.