Using SATA II SSD with old IDE laptop - is it possible?

[NickH88]

I have a [very] old laptop that has an IDE connection for the internal HDD. I have a spare SATA II SSD that I'm looking to put in that laptop. I've seen cables that are SATA to IDE, but since this is the internal drive, I don't know how I'd get the cable to attach to the motherboard when it's inches deep inside the narrow HDD socket. I've also seen adapters, but they have a large chip in between the two female connectors that won't fit inside the HDD socket. Is what I'm trying to do even possible? If so, can someone please tell me what the best way to do it is?

Thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

you don't. on a desktop, yes, but not a great idea, on a laptop there is no room for any intermediate devices.

 

[xen111]

The only thing you *could* do is acquire a very tiny one like some Kingston mSata or something and see if that leaves enough room. With your current one that I assume to be 2.5" or 1.8" --- no. The IDE cable is probably going to be very short as well. The downside is that mSATA *also* needs an adapter to even reach SATA!. So now you need *two* adapters. There is also something called "mini sata". It is bigger than mSata but smaller than full SATA. I have one of those adapters, it measures 2cm exactly in length. So this adapter adds 2cm to the length of your drive -- it should be possible to make it smaller though. One of these 1.8" drives measures 8cm in length or 10cm in total. A 2.5" drive measures 10cm in length so this one fits exactly in the spot of one 2.5".

Now if your current laptop drive is 2.5" you would need something that is not longer than about 6cm. Kingston mSata drives are 5cm long.

So, with one of those and 2 adapters, you might have enough space to fit your 10cm 2.5" slot. But a regular one is just not gonna work, I think.