Connecting IDE hard drive to SATA mobo via adapter

[shinyblackdiamond]

Hey guys! New here, both as a member and as a computer builder.

Here's my issue:

I have an old IDE hard drive that I want to recover files from and then use it as a secondary storage for my current desktop computer. Since my current computer's motherboard only has SATA ports, I purchased an IDE to SATA converter thinking it might be that simple. However, when everything is connected and set, and I try to boot up the computer, I receive a message saying to reboot and to select a proper boot device.

In BIOS, it apparently still recognizes the main hard drive, but it does not pick up the second hard drive (the IDE),

Also, when I go over to the BOOT menu, the HDD group options states that the HDD group boot priority is not installed. So, even though the main hard drive is still recognized, it can't/won't boot from that hard drive.

Any help and/or suggestion is highly appreciated and thanks in advance!

MOBO: H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) (from HP Pavilion Elite e9220y)
IDE HDD: Seagate U series 9 model ST380012A (80GB, it's super old, maybe that's the problem?)
IDE to Sata adapter: SYBA SATA II to IDE ATA133 Bi-Directional Adapter (SD-ADA50016)

I'm running Windows 10 and the BIOS sata mode is set to RAID for if it matters.
Also it may be worth mentioning the IDE hard drive still has Windows XP installed on it.

 

[Paperdoc]

First, check instructions for that adapter. I expect it will say that the jumpers on the old IDE drive need to be set to be the Master (or, Master with No Slave Present). So set it that way. This makes that drive the Master of that ONE IDE port that the adapter creates, not Master of the entire computer.

Then in BIOS check that the IDE is now recognized. Once it is, go the the Boot Priority system and make sure the SATA unit is set as the boot device, and there is NO mention of the IDE unit in the sequence. SAVE and EXIT after making changes.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

First, check instructions for that adapter. I expect it will say that the jumpers on the old IDE drive need to be set to be the Master (or, Master with No Slave Present). So set it that way. This makes that drive the Master of that ONE IDE port that the adapter creates, not Master of the entire computer.

Then in BIOS check that the IDE is now recognized. Once it is, go the the Boot Priority system and make sure the SATA unit is set as the boot device, and there is NO mention of the IDE unit in the sequence. SAVE and EXIT after making changes.

Although the adapter does not actually say to (it makes no mention of setting the IDE drive to anything if connecting to SATA motherboard), before I purchased it I did read from others that the IDE hard drive does need to be set to Master, which I have done so. Even set as Master, BIOS does not recognize the IDE drive.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Do you have a RAID array? If not your BIOS should normally be set to AHCI or IDE mode.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

Do you have a RAID array? If not your BIOS should normally be set to AHCI or IDE mode.

As I understand it, you would need 2 or more drives to truly have a RAID array, no? I only one have SATA drive at the moment, so I don't think I have a RAID array. However, under BIOS, SATA controller mode is set as RAID, which is how it was setup when we purchased the computer.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Try switching it to AHCI or IDE. If it doesn't work you can switch it back.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

Try switching it to AHCI or IDE. If it doesn't work you can switch it back.

When changing to AHCI or IDE, it does appear that it's trying to boot from the main drive, I get the Windows logo screen, but Windows fails to start. It goes through a few reboots, and ultimately ends up at automatic repair/diagnostics, but is unable to fix anything.

I've read I should change the registry key values for iaStorV and/or Msahci to 0 if I wanted to go from RAID to AHCI but iaStorV is already at 0 (I was unable to find Msahci). I could not find specific instructions for Windows 10, so maybe that registry change only works for Windows 7/8?

When looking at the registry keys, I did see a sub-folder under iaStorv named "startoverride." Considering the name, would that have to be changes as well?

 

[SinxarKnights]

Honestly it might not be worth the effort. I would just put it back to raid instead of risking breaking something.

I know you already got the adapter, but have you considered using an external enclosure for it?

 

[Paperdoc]

So, before you started on this, the computer worked just fine when the SATA Port Mode was set in BIOS to RAID, correct? If so, that's a good reason to put it back to that setting. I don't know whether this applies to your system or not, but especially in earlier days of SATA, SOME mobo manufacturers supplied ONE driver on the CD with the board that had a combined RAID and SATA driver in it, and that was the driver you loaded for any SATA drive. In some of those cases, you needed to set the SATA Port Mode to RAID so this driver was used properly. Doing this does NOT make any HDD actually behave in a RAID fashion at all. To get any RAID array set up and working, there is a second process (which OP obviously has not done) using a RAID management BIOS module to specify which HDD units are involved in a RAID array and then create the array. Any HDD NOT specifically devoted to a RAID array is, by default, NOT a RAID drive at all.

OP, perhaps the problem is that the old IDE HDD just is not working. When you connect it via the adapter, what may be happening is that the POST process as you try to boot is getting stuck trying to get that drive to respond, and failing. Try to boot normally without the IDE / adapter system connected, just like it used to work. Does it boot properly that way?

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

Honestly it might not be worth the effort. I would just put it back to raid instead of risking breaking something.

I know you already got the adapter, but have you considered using an external enclosure for it?

Yeah, I had considered it, but I would have preferred a more permanent storage rather than an external device that might get in the way.

I'll continue looking for solutions for a few more days and see if anything comes up. If not, I'll just go the external enclosure route.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

To Paperdoc,

That is correct, the computer booted just fine initially with the main hard drive and the SATA mode set to RAID. The problem only occurred once I connected the IDE drive and the adapter. Also, when I removed the IDE drive and the adapter, the computer does boot properly without any problems. So you may be right that the IDE drive is just old and dead.

Even if it was dead, why wouldn't the computer just boot from the SATA drive that I know for sure works and BIOS does recognize it? Why/how would the IDE drive disable the HDD group boot priority?

 

[Paperdoc]

It's vaguely possible that the BIOS by default will assume that the boot device must be any IDE device that is found, ahead of any SATA device. Some BIOS's did that. Normally the way to fix that is to set your own Boot Priorities.

Whether that is happening or not, it appears the boot process is being side-tracked by the fact that it cannot get a meaningful response to inquiries of that new device (the IDE unit plus its adapter on a SATA port). It gets stuck in a loop waiting for a response. Maybe the wait for response has a timeout on it. When that happens and the boot process has NO apparent response from storage devices yet, it gives you that error message.

By the way, I assume that, in using that adapter, you also connected a power supply cable from the PSU either to the HDD itself or to the adapter, depending on its instructions.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

To Paperdoc

I know little to nothing about BIOS so I can't refute that, but it seems strange to me that the BIOS for a mobo that only has SATA ports would be configured to look for IDE devices to boot from first. But I will agree that the boot process does seem to timeout from not getting a proper response from the IDE drive, which seems to me really inefficient.

You are correct. There is a power supply cable from the PSU connected directly to the adapter, per the adapter's instructions.The adapter is connected straight onto the IDE drive, so the adapter should be supplying power to the drive, right? It makes no mention that the drive itself needs a power cable. I don't suppose that the drive needs to be powered separately from the adapter, would it?

 

[Paperdoc]

You are right. The adapter's I've seen come in either of two forms: power either is connected to the adapter, which passes it on to the IDE unit, OR power is plugged directly into the IDE unit and none to the adapter.

As a final check, if you can arrange for a friend to try plugging that old IDE unit into a real mobo IDE port, you could test whether the drive works that way. If it does, then obviously the adapter is faulty.

 

[shinyblackdiamond]

You are right. The adapter's I've seen come in either of two forms: power either is connected to the adapter, which passes it on to the IDE unit, OR power is plugged directly into the IDE unit and none to the adapter.

As a final check, if you can arrange for a friend to try plugging that old IDE unit into a real mobo IDE port, you could test whether the drive works that way. If it does, then obviously the adapter is faulty.

Before that final check, I do have a hopeful update.

I first want to make a correction in that the adapter was not connected directly to a PSU cable, but through a Y splitter that came with the adapter. The only real reason I used the splitter was for cable management. I removed the splitter and used an actual cable from the PSU to the adapter. I will admit here I also supplied a further cable directly to the IDE drive, so I'm hoping I'm not frying the drive because of this...

First reboot: I received a red screen with a message, which I can't recall too accurately. But I believe it was
because I had pressed F10 too late to go into BIOS before the boot-up process began. On the red screen there was an option to resume/continue as normal, I think. I chose that option and received the message saying to reboot and choose a proper boot device. I rebooted.

Second reboot: I went straight to BIOS and to my surprise the IDE drive was recognized! I checked the boot priority to make sure the main SATA drive was where it would boot from. I saved and exited the BIOS and rebooted.

Third Reboot: In the boot up process, there is a brief screen before the Window's logo that lists all the drives seen by the computer. The IDE drive was listed! Windows started just fine, no issues. While Windows finished loading, the expected messages of preparing new device came up. I gave it five minutes or so to complete. However, the IDE drive did not show up in My PC under drives and hardware. Maybe just turn on and off? I rebooted.

Fourth reboot: the brief screen that lists the drive still shows the IDE drive! but Windows failed to boot... so what gives?

To recap: I stopped using the splitter and connected an actuall PSU cable to the adapter. I also connected a separate PSU cable to the IDE drive. The IDE drive was recognized in BIOS! Windows failed to boot.

As I wrote this, I began to question whether I actually let Windows completely prepare the new device; I don't remember seeing a message of new device is ready to be used, as I would have expected. So maybe I restarted the computer while Windows was still in the process of preparing the new drive, and that's what caused Windows to fail to boot?

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, your tale prompts a few thoughts.

1. You say you connected power supplies to both the adapter and the IDE drive., and worry a little about that. First, is should NOT make any difference whether the supply to the adapter was via a splitter, unless the splitter itself was faulty. But that's not the only change - you added a connection directly to the drive. The it started to work! Now, any adapater I've seen wants drive power supplied in ONE of those two ways, and ones that go through the adapter do not leave the drive's power (4-pin male molex) connector empty. So I conclude your adapter NEEDS to have power fed directly to the drive. The fact that there is ALSO a power connector to the adapter itself suggests that it also is necessary, presumably to give power to the adapter only. By the way, is that splitter you mentioned one that converts one 4-pin Molex PSU output into two of the same thing? Maybe that's why the adapter came with this splitter - you need to use it to provide power separately to BOTH the adapter and the drive. Or, maybe the splitter was simply to "replace" the Molex output that was "used" by the IDE unit, and the power connection to the adapter is actually a different type, one like for a SATA drive.

2. So the drive was recognized in BIOS appropriately. The next snag came when Windows tried to load a device driver and failed. Normally, any Windows has a built-in driver for an IDE device so should not have needed to look far to get it and install. But this is slightly different. I don't know for sure, but maybe the adapter itself appears as a device that requires a driver to be installed in Windows. Re-examine the adapter's instructions. Does it say anything about a driver? Did it come with a disk containing a driver? Do you need to download a driver from a website?

Also check a detail. Older systems had a tool in BIOS where you set the SATA Port Mode, and in your case I expect it is AHCI (or maybe SATA) Mode. But the tool was there to allow you to force the BIOS to limit itself while using a SATA port to use only commands compatible with IDE drives, and thus allow use of SATA without the AHCI device driver. One did that by setting the Port Mode to "IDE Emulation". Now, sometimes that setting could be configured for ALL SATA ports at once, and sometimes it could be set individually for each SATA port. So, check your BIOS for the SATA Port Mode setting. I do NOT recommend you change it for ALL ports. But IF you can set ONLY the SATA port used with this adapter, try changing it to IDE Emulation Mode.

Lastly, try booting directly into BIOS Setup again and checking the Boot Priority Sequence. Make sure it is still set as before and does NOT have any mention of the adapter/drive combo. This is just in case it decided to change that on you once the IDE unit was detected. If you change anything, SAVE and EXIT as before.

Windows should be able to boot from your original SATA drive as it did on your Third Reboot above. If it can't, try again but boot into Window's SAFE MODE. In that mode many drivers ad devices are somewhat ignored, and you can boot enough to get into Windows Device Manager to check the status of devices and their drivers. Maybe you will find in there a yellow warning triangle highlighting the problem device, and be able to update its driver. An alternative there is to Delete that troubled device (which will delete any faulty driver installation), then reboot and see if it can do the device driver installation properly.