Had you posted yesterday, I would have given you a PCI SATA controller card. As it is, you can find one at FreeGeek if you get there soon. :)
I would recommend something along the lines of this http://www.cooldrives.com/sata-drive-to-ide-converter-mini.html as being a better solution for your situation. These are cheap and should be invisible to your OS so you shouldn't have any compatibility problems. Of course, I have not tried them so I cannot speak from experience. Refurbishing HDDs is just asking for failure. Motors and bearings wear out with use. You could extend the life of a few drives by swapping controller boards if two identical drives fail in different ways, but it is not likely to be worth your trouble. The only factor I can think of that could possibly be a problem with just stocking up on IDE drives, is with the platters beginning to sag over time. I know this used to be an issue, but not sure if it is still a problem. If it is still relevant, I imagine it could be controlled by simply rotating the drives 180 degrees, each year while in storage. I would recommend researching further... I think your best bet is to use an IDE to SATA adapter, this way, you can take advantage of the latest in technology and energy savings, while also making sure the drives you use are new and under warranty. Also, this way, if you ever upgrade to a new server, you won't be searching around trying to find a way to use IDE drives with a motherboard that only supports SATA (or newer). Just my 2 cents worth, Jason On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:34 PM, Michael C. Robinson < [email protected]> wrote: > I'm a little tight right now and have noticed that my hard drive in > one of my servers is dying. The problem is, that hard drive is ATA > 100 and the motherboard doesn't support serial ATA. I don't need a > more powerful server, but the Serial ATA push does pose a problem. > > I bit the bullet and bought 2 ATA 100 250 GB drives on EBay. I > figure I can keep one sealed for when the other drive wears out. > How long do I have to stock up on ATA 100 drives and as needed > 80 wire cable? Is there a cheap way to refurbish working drives > that are starting to have trouble? What thoughts can people offer > on adding PCI cards that support SATA to older PIII systems? > > What I'm looking at is sinking maybe $100/month into ATA 100 > hard drives to stock up for when the drives I am using now > wear out. I figure if I keep a drive in the sealed anti > static bag that it shouldn't wear out. > > Should I stock up on ATA 100 hard drives for when my current drives > wear out, or is there a Serial ATA PCI card I should get that works > well under Linux? Do I have to get new power supplies if I purchase > PCI SATA cards? > > This problem goes beyond just my servers. I have a mixed environment > of computers where many of them use PATA hard drives exclusively. > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
