PATA vs. SATA interface

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bkoltys

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I just got from a friend an enlosure for my PATA hard drive. I connected everything ok but my Windows XP (home) doesn't recognize any new divice. It make the "bing bong" noise then the "bong bing" (disconnecting device noise) then nothing happens. The hard drive is not listed in "my computer" and is not found when I go to partition it. Now my question, is there a SATA enclosusre and a PATA enclosure? Am I using a PATA hard drive in a SATA enclosure box? Any help would be greatly appreciated. My hard drive is a Maxtor Maxline Plus II 250gb. My enlcosure is a Sabrent 3.5" 2.0USB IDE enclosure. Thanks.

Bryan
 
I'm not real familiar with enclosures, but how do the jumper settings on the hard drive have to be set?

Gabriel
 
You know I'm a real amatuer when it come to things like that. I really don't know what the jumper settings means. Sorry. Maybe if yo uexplain what that is I can tell you. The power and the 39 pin plug both fit normally from the enclosure to the hard drive. I assume there may be some compatability problems? Thanks.
 
If it is a new drive, your jumper will need to be set to master, and you will have to format it through disk management before you can use it.
 
If you right click the "MY COMPUTER" icon and choose "manage" then look under disk managment is the drive listed there. IF so, Right click the drive and try to formart it there.

Also have your device mangaer opened when you plug in the usb cable and see if any new hardware adds. To get to device manager, right click My computer and under the Hardware tab you should see device manager.
 
As I said in my original post, my computer doesn't recognize the hard drive. Therefore it isn't listed on "my computer" nor is it listed along with my other drives in my disk management screen. Unfortunatley, I have no idea how to get my computer recognize it. Hardware wizard doesn't do it either. Does anyone have an answer to my original question?? IS there such a thing as incompatability between a PATA drive and a possible SATA enclosure????? Thanks.

Bryan
 
Did you try to turn it off and turn it back on again? with the drive hooked up?

Okay... at first I started this post with the attempt at a funny remark ('cause truly... when things don't work right for me, I reboot). But... we were having problems with secondary drives (Camera, usb port, ipod, etc) and we needed to remove a CD creator program and then all of a sudden things worked again. I wish I could remember what CD creator it was... it was a freeware thing... In any case, my husband found it on a help site when our ipod wasn't working.

This isn't helping at all... is it? :o
 
Well, PATA Means Parallel ATA, and SATA means Serial ATA, but as long as it connects physically, then, it should work, based on my experience.

This would be a good Question for Spazntwitch.
 
tigger_too_wooh said:
Did you try to turn it off and turn it back on again? with the drive hooked up?

Okay... at first I started this post with the attempt at a funny remark ('cause truly... when things don't work right for me, I reboot). But... we were having problems with secondary drives (Camera, usb port, ipod, etc) and we needed to remove a CD creator program and then all of a sudden things worked again. I wish I could remember what CD creator it was... it was a freeware thing... In any case, my husband found it on a help site when our ipod wasn't working.

This isn't helping at all... is it? :o
Click to expand...
Oh yes I've tried that, a few times. ANd yes you're right that will do the trick sometimes. Unfortunately XP doesn't seem to have any drivers for Maxtor. So I just don't know if it's the fact that it's a Maxtor drive or it's having trouble with the PATA interface. Keep the reply's coming, somebody's gotta know something!! Thanks again.
 
Ok thanks for the link. Looking at those pics I definitely have a PATA enclosure, since all my cables fit the PATA hard drive and look identicle to the pics. I have gone to the Maxtor website and tried to get a driver but they don't have drivers for the model I have. I have emailed their tech department and am waiting for a reply.
 
I have another thought. I have another external on my computer. Is this causing a problem? Having two external hard drives connected to my computer? Just thought I throw that out there.
 
Ok OK I figured out what's going on. I switched my enclosure from my other drive (Seagate) to the Maxtor and whamo it worked. Recognized and then I partitioned it fine. Then I hooked up my Seagate to my enclosurre I had been working with and nothing. So I guess I have a faulty enclosure. Anyway, thanks for the replys.
 
did you try removing the jumper off the drive and powering it up then plug it into the usb port (i assume it's usb). some enclosure doesn't like it when there are any jumpers on the drive.
 
flybynight said:
did you try removing the jumper off the drive and powering it up then plug it into the usb port (i assume it's usb). some enclosure doesn't like it when there are any jumpers on the drive.
Click to expand...
Problem is I don't know what a "jumper" is. My new hard drive is working but I still can't get the other to work simultanuously. I'm curious if having two external hard drives connected to one computer is causing a problem. Is there something that needs to be done in the BIOS to allow my computer recognize the other one?
 
bkoltys said:
Problem is I don't know what a "jumper" is. My new hard drive is working but I still can't get the other to work simultanuously. I'm curious if having two external hard drives connected to one computer is causing a problem. Is there something that needs to be done in the BIOS to allow my computer recognize the other one?
Click to expand...
Check out this image to see what jumpers look like; in this image they are named "jumper shunts". They are little plastic shunts that hold a metal plate that connects two or more pins together and are used to tell the hard drive how to interact with the computer as either the first or second hard drive.

Two hard drives connected should not be a problem. It sounds like your enclosure is faulty.
 
Thanks for the reply, mine looks like the bottom left (dual slave) although mine is an 8-pin not 10. Is something supposed to hook up to those? I think too that my box is faulty, I got the drive from a friend while I got the enclosure from ebay. I know, I know. Anyway, it only cost $20. Live and learn.
 
The drive enclosures are meant for the hard disk drive to be set as a "Master" or "Cable Select". It really doesn't matter which one you choose. The following image shows how to do that with your drive.
jumper.gif
 
Mine is cable select, but with my ignorance of the hard drive world the image you posted doesn't "show" me how to do it. Call me an idiot if you want, it won't bother me. Nothing is supposed to connect to those pins correct? In my other enclosure on my working hard drive, nothing is connected to that. Is there something that needs to be changed on my computer to recognize cable select? Go ahead call me an idiot again. I ordred a new enclosure, and I mean NEW not the ebay kind.
 
If yours is set as cable select, then there's nothing more you need to do than just wait for that new enclosure.

Sometimes I forget that people don't work with computers (or repair them) everyday like I do. All you need to do to change the drive from cable select to master is to remove the jumper from the second to the left pins and move it to the far left pins. But like I said, if it is already set for cable select, then you don't need to do anything.
 
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