[SOLVED] Trouble moving from PATA/IDE HDD to SATA HDD in PATA/IDE ODD port - old XP Laptop

[fitzy_rs]

Hi all, first time poster here. I've been trying for a few days off and on to get my old Toshiba Satellite (M70) PSM73A-00F007 cloned and running off a new HDD.

I'm really hoping I'm going to look like an idiot and there's a super simple answer...but I'm really struggling to find a reference that fits my case.

My objective was simply to clone the current HDD to a newer and larger HDD both for the expansion of storage, but also in case of an HDD failure. Why bother? Well I know there are other options like buying another newer machine...but I would like to retain the laptop to continue running the legacy games my son enjoys, it's disconnected from all networks, and we have it and it works fine for that, so why not!

So, I identified A) the current HDD is a PATA/IDE connection, B) I can replace the ODD with a caddy that will allow a SATA disk to be attached via the ODD PATA/IDE port.

For context, on a different W10 based laptop I recently moved my SATA HDD into an ODD SATA port caddy, and added an SSD into the previously main SATA port (...oh the speed gain...!!). Then I installed an additional instance of W10 so now have one fresh instance booting off the SSD, and the existing instance booting off the HDD in ODD port. In both cases the other drive that wasn't booted is available as storage - perfect.

Too easy I thought, I'll do something similar on the old Satellite! Yeah, about that....

To outline what I tried:

• Removed PATA/IDE ODD, replaced with a PATA/IDE caddy containing a 2.5" SATA HDD
• While logged into XP I used Macrium Reflect to both clone the current PATA/IDE HDD and also to create an image on an external drive for safekeeping.
• Removed the main PATA/IDE drive and rebooted, ensuring the new SATA drive in ODD PATA/IDE port was first in order, expecting it would boot. Yeah, it didn't...

I've tried all sorts of things (that I can expand on) including installing a fresh XP SP3 via USB when only the SATA drive in ODD was installed.

My main observations are:

• In all situations, if I have both drives in and boot from the original PATA/IDE HDD, there is a long lag between most operations like POST screen to XP etc., but then it's fine when up and running. This is the same whether anything is on the SATA in ODD or not.
• When XP is booted off the PATA/IDE HDD, the SATA in ODD is available as a storage device - great, it can at least be recognised and run...
• Speed tests show similar speeds for both drives, so there doesn't appear to be a dodgy connection or bottleneck there.
• I can supposedly install a fresh XP on the SATA in ODD regardless of the PATA/IDE HDD in or out, but again it won't boot to the new option either way.
• The most troubling unusual thing I'm struggling to find reference to is that in the BIOS, both drives show up in the boot menu, the PATA/IDE HDD as HTS541040G9AT00-(PM) one as CD/DVD WDC WD5000LPLX-60NTT1-(SM). However, when both are installed, only the HTS... shows up in the BIOS 'Main' screen beside 'Hard Disk', and when the HTS... is physically removed, the 'Hard Disk' shows as 'None', although the WDC is still in the boot menu....
• In BIOS there are no options to change AHCI, native SATA, IDE emulation etc. and I'm assuming that's because there are no actual SATA slots...the closest thing to changing a setting like that is 'Legacy USB Support'.
• For what it's worth, it's a PhoenixBIOS setup on ver V1.10

Again in many ways, I'm really hoping I'm going to look like an idiot and there's a super simple answer...

Any help is most appreciated, and happy of course to provide more information as required!

Thank you!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

The problem with legacy hardware is that most times you're relegated to using the original storage location that had the OS on it, i.e, the lone HDD mounting spot in the laptop. The caddy/secondary storage location drive location is relegated to a storage drive only. As a side note, Have you tried using another drive cloning tool? As for the secondary drive caddy, can you parse a link to said caddy? There should also be a toggle switch on the side of the caddy to support different laptop brands.

 

[TerryLaze]

one as CD/DVD WDC WD5000LPLX-60NTT1-(SM).

Yeah custom bios that only sees the cady ide as cd/dvd nothing much you can do unless somebody out there made a custom bios that lets you see the cady as a normal drive.
Since the old one is a 40Gb drive you could look into getting an ide to sd card adaptor and use an sd card in the main ide drive slot.
Won't be quite as fast as an ssd but at least you would solve the reliability issue of the old drive.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=ide+44+to+sd&_sacat=0

 

[fitzy_rs]

As a side note, Have you tried using another drive cloning tool? As for the secondary drive caddy, can you parse a link to said caddy? There should also be a toggle switch on the side of the caddy to support different laptop brands.

Thanks Lutfij,

No I haven't tried another cloning tool, but had tried multiple methods to problem solve e.g. if it wouldn't boot with the clone, but would boot with a fresh install (which it didn't) I'd then swtich focus back to solving the cloning.

There's no switch that I've seen, and here's the link to the caddy:
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketp...drives/laptop/listing/3541062914?bof=XcW0Vzsq
It does work as a second storage drive in windows, I just can't get it to boot.

Also, when it's attached, there's a WHOLE lot of lag while booting, but then it's fine once XP has started. This boot lag almost makes it unusable.

Yeah custom bios that only sees the cady ide as cd/dvd nothing much you can do unless somebody out there made a custom bios that lets you see the cady as a normal drive.
Since the old one is a 40Gb drive you could look into getting an ide to sd card adaptor and use an sd card in the main ide drive slot.
Won't be quite as fast as an ssd but at least you would solve the reliability issue of the old drive.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=ide+44+to+sd&_sacat=0

Thanks TerryLaze,

Aren't all BIOS in essence custom? It's interesting that my newer laptop will boot the OS from a HDD in a caddy that it shows as DVD, as will installation discs?

Being a PATA connection, even putting an SSD in the original slot is not going to be anywhere near utilising the full speed of an SSD anyway right? So an SD card slower than SSD option could be a goer. That could work as a bootable cloned backup drive option.

Any ideas why it'd have so much boot lag when the second drive is attached?

 

[TerryLaze]

Any ideas why it'd have so much boot lag when the second drive is attached?

Probably error checking, it tries to figure out what the disk is and gives it more time in case it's defective and needs more time to activate.
It probably also goes through all the other boot options like network which also waits some time for a slow network to connect.

Yeah, ide is not going to use much of the speed of the SSD.