Serial ATA Data Connection Splitter?

Post by **tandino** » September 14th, 2008, 15:42

'Noon chaps. As the title suggests, I would like to know if such a component exists to split the data connections of two SATA hard drives into one data hole. My brother has gone out and bought himself a new SATA drive for his pron. The problem is, he's already got a DVDRW and a hard drive using his motherboard's two SATA connections.

Any idea if there's a device that can split one connection between two drives?

Cheers loves.

Fear · Post by **Fear** » September 14th, 2008, 15:54

Fairly sure they can't be split.

Best bet is to buy a PCI SATA card for more SATA connections.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » September 14th, 2008, 15:54

I don't think it's as easy as that.

I know you can get controller cards which have multiple extra ports on though, would be worth asking Berk about that as I think he uses one.

Post by **tandino** » September 14th, 2008, 16:04

Thanks folks. Berk, I pass this on to your fine (pfft) self.

MrGreen · Post by **MrGreen** » September 14th, 2008, 16:16

IIRC, Berk uses something relatively expensive.

Sift through some reviews and aim for something that is from a decent enough brand and has a decent enough chipset, oh and is SATAII.

/not very helpful

amblin · Post by **amblin** » September 14th, 2008, 18:13

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 14th, 2008, 19:04

Yup, it's a no-go.

For this, I'd just buy something like This

However, you'll probably need to find a PCI one, because a motherboard with only 2 sata holes is probably* socket-A era (or ~2.4ghz P4) and pre-pci-e.

Amblin is also correct, hell, HDDs have a job saturating sata. you'll get an IDE dvd burner for about 16 quid, so that's another option.

*either that, or a dell

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 14th, 2008, 19:15

oh, you could just buy a USB enclosure for the new HDD, that'd probably run less than £25 too.

Post by **deject** » September 14th, 2008, 21:12

There are RAID controllers that run 4 SATA channels off one port, but they need special cables to split the channels and such. They're hideously expensive and not worth the money.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 14th, 2008, 21:34

deject wrote:There are RAID controllers that run 4 SATA channels off one port, but they need special cables to split the channels and such. They're hideously expensive and not worth the money.

Hmmmmn

They do run off of one port on the controller, but it's most likely mini-SAS (or some other thing) and they're usually on fairly high end controllers, so not really worth considering in a machine like the one in question.

However, in a file server, they're well worth the money for the added reliability, not to mention they're the only way to hook 16+ sata drives up to a computer without doing something dumb.

Post by **tandino** » September 15th, 2008, 11:41

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:oh, you could just buy a USB enclosure for the new HDD, that'd probably run less than £25 too.

Berk, if you weren't so hideous I'd kiss you. Thank you for this suggestion, USB SATA enclosures start at £14.10 from Novatech. Thank you sir!

Post by **deject** » September 15th, 2008, 15:47

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:
Hmmmmn

They do run off of one port on the controller, but it's most likely mini-SAS (or some other thing) and they're usually on fairly high end controllers, so not really worth considering in a machine like the one in question.

However, in a file server, they're well worth the money for the added reliability, not to mention they're the only way to hook 16+ sata drives up to a computer without doing something dumb.

yes. all of this.