Converting PATA HDD to SATA HDD

[Jhong]

I'm trying to convert my computer from a pata hd to a sata hd. I converted
The p3 molex connector to sata power, I connected the sata cable from the hd to the motherboard. When I turn it on and gies to post, it gives 2 short beeps and says

secondary drive 0 not found
Secondary drive 1 not found
Strike the f1 key to continue, f2 to run the setup utility

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[DelJo63]

WHY fix what is not broken; in other words, why can't you stay with PATA?

 

[Jhong]

To embarrass myself, I accidentally bought a 500gb sata hd to replace my 40gb hd, thinking my current hd was sata. So when I went to the store to exchange it, I found out the space I get on a sata hd is more economical to buying a pata hd

 

[wizardB]

set your motherboard SATA controller to Ide type

 

[Jhong]

How do you set the motherboard controller to IDE type?

 

[Code Butcher]

When you boot the PC, go to the Setup Utilitiy (F2). You should be able to see the drive in HD menu.

Not much fits on 40Gb anymore. How old is the PC? Do you plan on ghosting (copying) the 40 Gb to the 500 Gb drive or reinstalling the OS?

 

[SNGX1275]

Are you connecting the data SATA cable to the motherboard directly? Or is it going through a SATA to PATA (40 or 80 wire ribbon) converter? If you don't have naitive SATA connections on the motherboard and since the drive you are replacing is a 40GB drive there is a fair chance that the motherboards BIOS won't take anything over 137GB.

If that is the case (and thats a big if with the provided information so far), you may be better off buying a PCI SATA controller card.

 

[Jhong]

I'm running a Dell dimension 4600. It's about 10 years old. I'm Planning on the reinstall the OS. When I enter the setup menu, it's showing the primary master drive as an unknown device. I'm assuming that's what's missing. How do I correct this problem?

 

[Code Butcher]

I don't think a Dimension 4600 had a SATA connector on the MB, though it depends on the MB and the chipset. You may need to us a PCI SATA card to see the 500GB drive. Check to see if there is a Bios update for your system.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/specs.htm

It looks like he motherboard does have 2 sata ports, problem is they are probably designed to only work in a software raid. I have an older amd motherboard about the same age that works that way. Also as someone had already mention it's quite possible that the motherboard will not support a hard drive larger that 137gb. Your best bet would to either buy a smaller drive or install a sata controller.

 

[Jhong]

It sees the drive, but it won't let me do anything. When I go into the hardware configuration in the BIOS, it says hard drive for SATA primary drive. It also says unknown device for primary master drive. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Code Butcher]

I think the drive is SATA II (two) and not compatible with your SATA I (one) controller. Though most drives are backwards compatable, maybe the newer models are not.

What brand and model drive are you trying to install?

 

[wizardB]

You will probably nee to set a jumper on the drive to slow it to sata1

 

[Tedster]

did you set the jumper or pin on the drive? All SATA drives have their own channel. Was the drive formatted before converting? And yes, SATA II cannot be used on a SATA I. The reverse is true though.

 

[Jhong]

Just to give you guys an update, sata connection worked directly to the motherboard. I forgot do set the boot sequence to cd drive first and insert the windows cd. Thank you all for your help!