# USB ---> Internal IDE/SATA



## miketrains03 (Dec 11, 2008)

Is there any adapter/cable that would let me connect a usb drive to a ide/sata port on a mobo? There's a ton of ide --> usb cables so why not the other way around? The point is i'd like to boot up the computer from my usb drive even if it doesn't have boot from usb feature.


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## PC eye (Dec 11, 2008)

Simply looking in the drive accessories at a vendor will see usb to ide or usb to sata adapters like the usb to ide adapter seen at  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1225711&CatId=470

A usb to sata adaoter can be seen at  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2477926&CatId=470

Newegg will often save you a few bucks however on what they may have instock like the one seen at  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

The best setup seeing an external drive especially for Windows on an external drive would be the eSata not usb type for seeing that as a boot device. The drive is plugged into an eSata port on the case itself or an addin adapter card and from there direct to the board for seeing that under the onboard controllers. Just remember however that external drives are designed mainly as addon storage devices if any problems are seen with the OS you install.


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## miketrains03 (Dec 12, 2008)

PC eye said:


> Simply looking in the drive accessories at a vendor will see usb to ide or usb to sata adapters like the usb to ide adapter seen at  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1225711&CatId=470
> 
> A usb to sata adaoter can be seen at  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2477926&CatId=470
> 
> ...



I've seen a ton of those cables doing searches but they have a male usb as they are meant for hooking up an ide drive to a usb port. While converting it to female usb wouldn't be hard, i wouldn't imagine you could use it to hook an usb drive to a ide port. The same could be said for a sata adapter. Has anyone tried this?


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## PC eye (Dec 12, 2008)

I simply bought an external usb drive which means a standard ide or sata drive housed in an external self powered casing. For seeing any old ide or sata work with usb then you would simply buy an external usb cage. 

Here when looking in the boot order section of the bios and the hard drive list there on this board using an Award version I could easily set the external 500gb as the default boot device. But the problem still remains that it is intended as an external storage device for the most part.

I couldnt say offhand if someone has tried setting a usb drive as default with an adapter. It sounds like you would likely see better results with the onboard ide or sata controller by way of adapter then going through the usb bus however.


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## miketrains03 (Dec 12, 2008)

PC eye said:


> I simply bought an external usb drive which means a standard ide or sata drive housed in an external self powered casing. For seeing any old ide or sata work with usb then you would simply buy an external usb cage.
> 
> Here when looking in the boot order section of the bios and the hard drive list there on this board using an Award version I could easily set the external 500gb as the default boot device. But the problem still remains that it is intended as an external storage device for the most part.
> 
> I couldnt say offhand if someone has tried setting a usb drive as default with an adapter. It sounds like you would likely see better results with the onboard ide or sata controller by way of adapter then going through the usb bus however.



I think you're misunderstanding me. I don't want to access an ide/sata hard drive through a usb bus. I want to access a usb thumb drive through an ide port. While you may be able to see your external usb drive through bios, not all (especially not older) motherboards let you boot or even access usb.

Anyone else have any info?


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## PC eye (Dec 12, 2008)

I recommended using either an onboard ide or sata controller through an adapter but not for a flash drive. Those are designed for booting a system through the usb bus itself. In fact someone lately asked how to install the latest release of ubuntu onto a flash drive and reported successfully seeing the distro load up once the flash drive was partitioned and formatted.

One question here would be on the make and model board to see just what type of usb to ? adapter would be used. Even older boards however still saw sata as well as ide onboard.


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## miketrains03 (Dec 12, 2008)

PC eye said:


> I recommended using either an onboard ide or sata controller through an adapter but not for a flash drive. Those are designed for booting a system through the usb bus itself. In fact someone lately asked how to install the latest release of ubuntu onto a flash drive and reported successfully seeing the distro load up once the flash drive was partitioned and formatted.
> 
> One question here would be on the make and model board to see just what type of usb to ? adapter would be used. Even older boards however still saw sata as well as ide onboard.



I know thumb drives aren't ideal for booting an os. It's the small size that's really catching my eye. I'd like to have the ability to boot up my "system" from any computer i can access the motherboard. IDE would be optimal to me because every mobo i've seen has at least one IDE channel and it seems like they will continue to put them on future boards. 

I was hoping there was an adapter that would make the usb drive look like a regular IDE drive to the mobo so there wouldn't be any issues with loading an OS or booting.

I guess with the lower price of SSD's now i could just carry one of those around with proper cabling.


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## massahwahl (Dec 12, 2008)

lol you just had your first confusing encounter with pc_eye, your best served not to listen to anything he suggests


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## StrangleHold (Dec 12, 2008)

miketrains03 said:


> Is there any adapter/cable that would let me connect a usb drive to a ide/sata port on a mobo? There's a ton of ide --> usb cables so why not the other way around? The point is i'd like to boot up the computer from my usb drive even if it doesn't have boot from usb feature.


 

Short easy answer. I pretty sure they dont make them. At least if they do I have never saw one.


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## Cromewell (Dec 12, 2008)

I don't think they make them either, the demand for it just isn't there as any reasonably new system will support booting from USB.


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## miketrains03 (Dec 12, 2008)

Thanks. I think i'm just gonna pick up a cheap 2.5" ssd that has usb 2.0 also and pick up a sata to ide adapter if needed.


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