Would this PATA-SATA adapter work?

[technoob]

I just found this on ebay. Looks cheap and I wonder if it will work.

[Bowlsnapper]

3 hours ago, technoob said:

I just found this on ebay. Looks cheap and I wonder if it will work.

That looks pretty cool. Although, keep in mind that most cheap adapters max out at UDMA-4 and not 6... sometimes 5 without the DVD-ROM drive present. It depends on the chipset being used. I would use nothing less than a Startech, or at least something sharing the same chipset/controller... although, those will probably be just as expensive.

[technoob]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Although, keep in mind that most cheap adapters max out at UDMA-4 and not 6... sometimes 5 without the DVD-ROM drive present.

I honestly don't know what that means. Is it just a matter of speed/performance of the drive (example: I'd get better performance with a startech) or does it mean the SATA drive I want to use won't be recognized (example, during Slayer Evox CD installation...) Just to clarify my needs, it's always been this way: if I plug a PATA drive, the Xbox correctly launches the Slayer Evox installation disc... if I use another cheap adapter I got on Amazon (the green one) with a SATA drive it displays the error page (can't remember which number, something like 13 or 5). All I'd like to know if that adapter (the one on the 1st post) will make the SATA drive recognizable... (I guess only who actually used it can say for sure). Anyway I asked the seller if it's Xbox-compatible and a pic of the rear (since the SATA plug isn't visible), still awaiting response.

[Marty]

I'd have to know the chipset this adapter uses. Also, it should have a SLAVE/MASTER jumper on it.

[Bowlsnapper]

2 hours ago, technoob said:

I honestly don't know what that means. Is it just a matter of speed/performance of the drive (example: I'd get better performance with a startech) or does it mean the SATA drive I want to use won't be recognized (example, during Slayer Evox CD installation...) Just to clarify my needs, it's always been this way: if I plug a PATA drive, the Xbox correctly launches the Slayer Evox installation disc... if I use another cheap adapter I got on Amazon (the green one) with a SATA drive it displays the error page (can't remember which number, something like 13 or 5). All I'd like to know if that adapter (the one on the 1st post) will make the SATA drive recognizable... (I guess only who actually used it can say for sure). Anyway I asked the seller if it's Xbox-compatible and a pic of the rear (since the SATA plug isn't visible), still awaiting response.

Theoretically it should, yes. Although your speeds will be more limited, judging by the price. I doubt you'd notice it TOO much, but if you were to do it side by side, you'd see it. If it's just for you and not something you're trying to buy in bulk to turn consoles around, just spend the extra 10 bucks and get a startech, honestly. You'll get good speed and you know it'll work. One time purchase is worth it.

[UltimateMe]

You could better look for something like this one, if you want a cheap one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255483009090?hash=item3b7bf95842:g:ZNAAAOSwQ39iVAVM

This one is confirmed working, I use it often for the cheaper mods. The Startech is a bit faster, but more than double the money of this one. Only when using "green" disks it could have some issues, where the Startech is better. Using normal disks the cheaper one is working like a charm.

[Acidmank]

What do you mean green disks?     ( where it could have some issue? )

[UltimateMe]

3 hours ago, Acidmank said:

What do you mean green disks?     ( where it could have some issue? )

Green disks are powersaving disks. Like the WD Green (those are discontinued and now exists as SSD and NVMe, but there are still a lot to find), Seagate Green and other powersaving disk that spins around 5900RPM or fluctuate between 5400, 5900, 7200 RPM.

[technoob]

The seller was kind enough to post more pics and specs but the other side of the adapter can't be seen as it can't be extracted from the package.
 

Edited September 4, 2023 by technoob

[tiertop]

  

On 9/3/2023 at 2:22 PM, technoob said:

I just found this on ebay. Looks cheap and I wonder if it will work.

 

The Jmicron adapters can work fine. That one appears to be of decent quality. Sometimes the XBox has trouble detecting the drive connected with cheap builds of them though. It can cause a startup delay or may not work at all. Marvell controllers tend to work better.

The Xbox runs UDMA 2 (33MB/s) unless you flash a BIOS with UDMA 4 (66) or 5 (100MB/s) support like Cerbios or a M8 Plus Titan mod.  This  makes the XBox even more picky about drive and adapter.  I settled on a SSD at UDMA 2 with standard M8 Plus after lots of experimentation.

Edited September 5, 2023 by tiertop

[prtscn]

On 9/3/2023 at 7:22 PM, technoob said:

I just found this on ebay. Looks cheap and I wonder if it will work.

Yes, and it should support original ATA cable, since description says that it supports multiple speeds: Compatibile con le specifiche Ultra ATA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33.

 

[prtscn]

On 9/4/2023 at 12:20 PM, technoob said:

The seller was kind enough to post more pics and specs but the other side of the adapter can't be seen as it can't be extracted from the package.
 

BUY IT!

[edit]Problem: this adapter can be too tall. and you will no be able to close top lid  

Edited September 5, 2023 by prtscn

[technoob]

5 hours ago, prtscn said:

BUY IT!

[edit]Problem: this adapter can be too tall. and you will no be able to close top lid  

It would be a "better problem" than it is now (using two PATA hd that I switch externally).

Edited September 5, 2023 by technoob

[prtscn]

1 hour ago, technoob said:

It would be a "better problem" than it is now (using two PATA hd that I switch externally).

what type of HDD you gonna install? 2.5"?

[Marty]

9 hours ago, prtscn said:

Problem: this adapter can be too tall. and you will no be able to close top lid  

Good observation.

[technoob]

4 hours ago, prtscn said:

what type of HDD you gonna install? 2.5"?

Most probably a 250gb 3.5" Seagate ... but it's theoretically  ok, I mean, even it the console will be slightly open, I just need to avoid switching from disks and just have one with all games selectable and even some more space for newer ones (since I'm not done playing 6th gen console exclusives, I guess).

unless startech prices drop by the grace of God, lol

Edited September 5, 2023 by technoob

[Bowlsnapper]

20 hours ago, tiertop said:

  

 

The Jmicron adapters can work fine. That one appears to be of decent quality. Sometimes the XBox has trouble detecting the drive connected with cheap builds of them though. It can cause a startup delay or may not work at all. Marvell controllers tend to work better.

The Xbox runs UDMA 2 (33MB/s) unless you flash a BIOS with UDMA 4 (66) or 5 (100MB/s) support like Cerbios or a M8 Plus Titan mod.  This  makes the XBox even more picky about drive and adapter.  I settled on a SSD at UDMA 2 with standard M8 Plus after lots of experimentation.

An SSD at UDMA2!? Jesus dude...

[tiertop]

On 9/6/2023 at 2:43 AM, Bowlsnapper said:

An SSD at UDMA2!? Jesus dude...

Sure.  It is still faster than a UDMA5 hard drive in the Xbox because it can saturate the bus whereas a hard drive bogs way down with small random file access.  It is most noticeable when scanning games with Emustation for example.

Edited September 7, 2023 by tiertop

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, tiertop said:

Sure.  It is still faster than a UDMA5 hard drive in some cases because it can saturate the bus whereas a hard drive bogs way down with small random file access.

... are you SURE? lol. I havn't heard this before. COULD be true...

[tiertop]

Just now, Bowlsnapper said:

... are you SURE? lol. I havn't heard this before. COULD be true...

Yeah I was playing around with the UDMA5 BIOSs earlier this year while also setting up Emustation. I have a few SSDs, SSHDs and hard drives around so tried different configs.  The SSD is definitely fastest at scanning games and moving around the dashboard. SSHD is pretty good too.  The hard drive a bit slower than those and noisier. For regular Xbox games I can't tell much difference between any modern drive. Unfortunately the SSD and SSHDs cause the XBox to freeze at random if at UDMA 4/5 for some reason so that's why I have it at stock UDMA2.

The thing with SSDs is they rock at reading small files randomly whereas a hard drive chokes.  So when you run a game scan with Emustation for example the SSD just blasts those files across nearly instantly whereas with a hard drive the speed drops way down because you wait on the read head moving around the platters.

 

[Bowlsnapper]

6 hours ago, tiertop said:

Yeah I was playing around with the UDMA5 BIOSs earlier this year while also setting up Emustation. I have a few SSDs, SSHDs and hard drives around so tried different configs.  The SSD is definitely fastest at scanning games and moving around the dashboard. SSHD is pretty good too.  The hard drive a bit slower than those and noisier. For regular Xbox games I can't tell much difference between any modern drive. Unfortunately the SSD and SSHDs cause the XBox to freeze at random if at UDMA 4/5 for some reason so that's why I have it at stock UDMA2.

The thing with SSDs is they rock at reading small files randomly whereas a hard drive chokes.  So when you run a game scan with Emustation for example the SSD just blasts those files across nearly instantly whereas with a hard drive the speed drops way down because you wait on the read head moving around the platters.

 

Well what kind of adapter are you using? Startechs would probably keep you from crashing at UDMA 6. I use it with my Xecuter 3 box and it's fast man.

As far as choking, wouldn't that come down to the quality of hard drive you have and how it works?

[technoob]

Just another adapter I've found, still a bit cheaper than startech and I wonder if it will work.
 

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, technoob said:

Just another adapter I've found, still a bit cheaper than startech and I wonder if it will work.
 

It's impossible to say how well it will perform because the chipset is intentionally being covered with that dumb ass sticker. Lol. They're probably trying to make it look like a Startech and hide the fact that it uses a substandard chipset.

[technoob]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

It's impossible to say how well it will perform because the chipset is intentionally being covered with that dumb ass sticker. Lol. They're probably trying to make it look like a Startech and hide the fact that it uses a substandard chipset.

afterall, it's an Hamlet... to buy or not to buy ?

[Bowlsnapper]

4 minutes ago, technoob said:

afterall, it's an Hamlet... to buy or not to buy ?

Hell, it's 11 bucks. Like I said, if you're trying to research it to see if you should buy a bulk, it may be worth the effort, but if you're only buying one of these for personal use, just spend 9 more dollars and get a startech. Lol.