Laptop 44pin IDE to Sata converter

Zarathustra[H]

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
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Oct 29, 2000
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Hey all,

I recently promised my sister I'd make her aging Laptop run better for her for her birthday, but did so before I realized what exactly she had.

My original plan was to upgrade the RAM (it only has 1GB) and throw in an SSD (it has an atrocious slow 40GB 2,5" drive), install Windows 7 home (currently has Vista) and then be done.

This has provided to be more challenging than I thought.

I have an SSD kicking around I figured I'd give her, but I just found out that her laptop uses the old 44pin 2.5" IDE connector. I need a way to convert this to sata without using too much space (space is limited under the drive door).

toshiba-satellite-A135-02.jpg


All the converters I can find look too big. Has anyone seen a converter that might be small enough to fit?
 
None of the converters are going to fit into the space required, and all of the converters of any quality I have seen also need either a molex or floppy power connector. They are generally made for desktop machines and not laptops.
 
Just buy her a new laptop. Something of similar size but modern will be inexpensive.
 
How about something like this: http://www.addonics.com/products/aat18.php I would think that would fit in there and leave room for one of those little zif drives.

I haven't personally used it because I don't know yet if a 1.8" zif ssd is an improvement over an old pata disk. I have a very similar toshiba laptop, a portege m200 tablet. That m200 is wonderful for drawing, with it's 1400x1050 pen-based touch screen. I have windows 7 on mine, with 2GB of RAM, and it's definitely an improvement over windows xp. It's surprisingly snappy except for the disk speeds.

Anyone know anything about 1.8" zif ssds, or is that worthy of its own thread?
 
^ It's up to you, but it seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth imo.
Seriously, why go through all of that when you could just buy a new SATA SSD in the 2.5" or 1.8" range for cheap?
 
Red Falcon, yeah,it's probably more trouble than it is worth, BUT, a SATA SSD won't work in that laptop, regardless of the size of the ssd. That laptop has a PATA connector. I will agree with mwroobel and Zarathustra that pata to SATA converters are not going to fit.

I did some digging for zif ssds and renice is an option. They have 30,60, and 120GB versions, and the prices aren't as bad as they used to be.
 
jedigeorge said:
Red Falcon, yeah,it's probably more trouble than it is worth, BUT, a SATA SSD won't work in that laptop, regardless of the size of the ssd. That laptop has a PATA connector. I will agree with mwroobel and Zarathustra that pata to SATA converters are not going to fit.
Click to expand...

Ah, I thought it was SATA. After looking closer, it appears you are correct.
Disregard what I said above.
 
I don't know if the photo you put is correct, but that's SATA, not PATA. If it's bare pins instead of a standard connector, it doesn't mean it's not SATA, it's just that there is an adapter, it looks like it is there on the HDD on the left.
 
mwroobel said:
None of the converters are going to fit into the space required, and all of the converters of any quality I have seen also need either a molex or floppy power connector. They are generally made for desktop machines and not laptops.
Click to expand...

If they are made for 44pin IDE (the ones on laptop drives) instead of regular 40pin IDE, the molex power connectors should not be necessary. Those extra 4 pins carry power and ground to the drive.
 
Ooops. I saw the pins there and thought PATA. I was browsing on my phone, and couldn't tell the number of pins, just that it looked like pins. I've never seen SATA with anything other than traditional SATA connectors.
 
Turns out you guys were right, and my research was wrong.

Toshiba's official specs claim SATA.

jedigeorge said:
Ooops. I saw the pins there and thought PATA. I was browsing on my phone, and couldn't tell the number of pins, just that it looked like pins. I've never seen SATA with anything other than traditional SATA connectors.
Click to expand...

Nor have I...

So how do I connect a standard sata drive to a computer that only has the pins sticking out like that?
 
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