Best Sata To Ide Adapter, looking to further upgrade xbox Options

[capboy210]

Ive seen this thread for years but it seems no one has a definite answer.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=648145

Anyone have a good adapter that works. From some reading it seems the adapter needs a slave option and that it cant be a crappy ebay one. I was thinking about purchasing a 1.5TB hard drive that has a 5900RPM. I guess many times the large capacity hard drives take a long time to spin up so the xbox loads slowly at startup or spits out errors. I also hear that the psu cant handle powering up the hard drive sometimes. So if i get a new "green" hard drive that claims to cut 48% of power needs then i would suppose this would be beneficial to the xbox.

Does 32k clusters only support 1TB max? i forget the calculations if i would need 64k clusters for my 1.5 TB
Has anyone succesfully used 64k clusters and does it affect performance?

Im looking at these two hard drives... which one would be the best? I have never attempted a sata hdd in an xbox before but my trusty 750GB IDE is filled

option 1:
5900RPM
1.5TB
Segate
3/5 star reviews
"green"
32MB Cache
Average Latency 5.1ms
109$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148412

option 2:
7200RPM
1.5TB
Segate
4/5 star reviews
"even more green" saves more power
32MB Cache
Average Latency 4.16ms
119$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148337

Current hard drive that works:
750GB Segate barracuda
IDE Ultra ATA100
RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 16MB
Average Latency 4.16ms

It seems as option 2 is more reliable, and faster, but its a 7200 RPM drive and im not sure that thats a good idea with sata. My thinking tells me that both these hard drives are probably faster than what the xbox needs. Someone enlighten me unless someone knows of a good 1TB 1.5TB IDE hard drive. Im not even sure if they exsist and if they are even around anymore if they do exsist. Has anyone used hard drive #2 in a xbox? It seems its very popular with over 1000+ reviews. Im just looking to better my odds with the sata hdd and adapter game.

[capboy210]

whoops to late to edit but i will add that my xbox has an 80-pin IDE cable already and it uses the X3 chip with the latest x3 bios. It looks like WD green drives seem to work good.

[xboxmods2977]

The max size you can get in an IDE HD is 1tb. Total Micro is the only company I could find that makes (or made) them and the drive is (or was) $250+.

My best advice I can give is to hunt down a cheaper 750gb IDE HD.

The one or two specific Sata to IDE adapters that are compatible with the xbox still leave something to be desired. They do not perform well in an xbox but I guess if you don't mind system instability, heftier price tag, slow or delayed boot times, and a just all-around-pain-in-the-ass, go for the 1TB Sata, that is, if you can find one.

[capboy210]

I already own a 750GB hard drive, that uses an IDE interface, i need to upgrade to something larger. I figure if i buy a 1TB hard drive and gain 250~gigs its not really worth it. Plus its only about an extra 25-30$ to go from a 1TB to a 1.5TB.

Which brand adapters are you talking about? Id like to know. I read about 8-9 pages of the sata adapter thread and it seems that if they are lucky enough to get a hard drive & adapter combo that works, the only performance that is diminished is when the xbox boots up it takes longer. My current hard drive already makes the xbox boot up slow most likely because its full, but regardless that wont bother me.

It seems many people have had success using the WD green series, i figure the PSU can actually handle this hard drive since its 40% less power strain on the PSU than a "non green" hard drive.

I also have been looking at this hard drive, it seems like actually the best choice, im a firm believer in segate products but i know that WD makes decent stuff.

Im thinking of pairing this hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136351
With this adapter (seems like everyone that used this adapter had a good experience)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12537

[Bomb Bloke]

Does 32k clusters only support 1TB max? i forget the calculations if i would need 64k clusters for my 1.5 TB

32kb clusters only supports partitions of up to 512gb in size. For anything above that, 64kb clusters must be used, and partitions over 1tb are currently impossible.

So, to stick with the lowest cluster sizes, you'd make one partition just under 1tb (using 64kb clusters), and one partition around 500gb (using 32kb clusters). If you split the space evenly, then both partitions would be using 64kb clusters (as they'd be about 750gb each).

Has anyone succesfully used 64k clusters and does it affect performance?

They lower the amount of data you can cram onto the drive (larger clusters = more slack space), but they don't affect performance in terms of speed.

Likewise, putting more data on a drive does not slow it down. Fragmentation can cause this, but only under very selective circumstances. Much less often then tech support teams like to imply.

[capboy210]

Okay thanks for the breakdown, If I follow through with this idea ill probably just split the partitions equally. So ill use 2 partitions that are 750 GB @ 64k clusters.

So are you saying that I would gain a minuscule amount of extra data space if i used the one 32k cluster in conjunction with one 64K cluster. Anyone with any other wise words or experience using sata hard drives?

[run088]

Yes make 1 partition less than 512 and use 32k then the rest on g with 64k. This is the most conservative setup for the 1.5tb drive and it works just fine I can attest to that. I have made this setup a number of times with no issues.

But you might as well max it out and get the 2tb drive. This setup also works just fine I have been running it for months. This is also the current maximum our hardware and software will support. F & G running 64k at its upper limit.

The only issue you will have unless it has been fixed is that the newer build of xbpartitioner would freeze on partitions it saw that were bigger than 1tb. To get around this you would have to take the old build that was capped at 32k and format into 2 partitions less than 1tb in size then load up the new version of xbpartitioner and reformat so you could format in 64k. The catch is that when you reformat with the new xbpartitioner that you have to change the partition sizes from what they were when they were formatted with the 32k because if you dont it may not format and you wont know until you pass 512 gigs and start getting data corruption. The best bet is to change the size so you can visually tell that the formatting worked. if you can see the visual change the formatting should be flawless.

The xbpartitioner builds I am referring to are xbpartitioner 1.0 and version 1.1

I think that the bug was worked out in a beta if I remember correctly but I dont know if it was ever released.

This post has been edited by run088: Nov 15 2009, 11:34 AM

[Bomb Bloke]

I think that the bug was worked out in a beta if I remember correctly but I dont know if it was ever released.

It wasn't released. I'm still being lazy.

[capboy210]

Hmm okay so you saying in order to format a 2TB hard drive using XBpartitioner do this: (sorry i need break it down it seems kinda confusing at first)

1. launch xbpartitioner 1.0
2. Split the F & G drives 50/50 (id assume it would each partition would be 985~GB's ish)
3. format both F&G in 32k clusters temporarily
4. Reboot xbox
5. launch xbpartitioner 1.1
6. Split the F & G drives exactly the same as you did in 1.0
7. Now format in 64k clusters
8. Reboot and celebrate?

Run088 did you have luck with the red dealextreme adapter? Which 2TB hard drive did you use? theres only a few out there. Im looking at the 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EADS (199$) here. Im thinking this would be the most wise choice, either that or im getting the Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS (159$) here

heres all six of my choices: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....99&name=2TB

[run088]

On step 2 make it an uneven split. Then on step 6 make it split evenly.The size needs to be different when formatting with xbpartitioner 1.1 with 64k then what you used xbpartitioner 1.0 with 32k. You do this so you can visually see the change in the formatting.

If you do it the way you wrote it out you will not be able to tell if the 64k format went ok or not. I added this step so you can be sure the formatting is correct or not. I have been burned a couple times and didnt find out til I passed 512gigs. If you do as I suggested you should be good when you pass 512gigs as far as data corruption is concerned.


As far as adapters I always buy from a company on ebay called partsdomauction. I do this because they exchange no hassle and they get the adapters to me quick since there company is based in the USA.

There are most likely other companies that supply good adapters too but I can not confirm or deny about there performance. A member pm me a week ago saying that BX adapters or DX adapters I cant remember which is the name I deleted the pm would run 2 sata hdd's at once. I cant get my adapters to do that so that is another company that makes adapters you might want to look into.

As far as the hdds themselves

The 2tb I run is this. It has ran flawless for months it has been the best performing hdd I have had yet


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148413

This is the 1.5tb I run and I have made atleast half a dozen of them. I had one die within 60 days but the rest have held up flawlessly.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148337


The 1.5tb is a 7200rpm drive. When I was buying these it was only available in the 7200rpm flavor. I noticed that the 1.5tb seagate is now available in the 5900rpm flavor. I really like my 2tb drive and I dont know if the 5900rpm speed is a factor or not. But it is the only difference I can tell by the spec so all future 1.5tb drives that I will buy will most likely be in the 5900rpm flavor.

[scullc]

@capboy210

i read that thread too and i saw the reviews on that Deal Extreme adaptor. so i bought one...and this was my quick review
I have just started using it tonight on my 200gb SATA (7200rpm) HDD.
1st impressions are great. So much so, i am thinking of getting another one - so i can use it on my spare 500gb SATA HDD.
Give me a week with it & i'll let you know? Mind you could have had it delivered it by then

This post has been edited by scullc: Nov 16 2009, 12:14 AM

[capboy210]

@capboy210

i read that thread too and i saw the reviews on that Deal Extreme adaptor. so i bought one...and this was my quick review
I have just started using it tonight on my 200gb SATA (7200rpm) HDD.
1st impressions are great. So much so, i am thinking of getting another one - so i can use it on my spare 500gb SATA HDD.
Give me a week with it & i'll let you know? Mind you could have had it delivered it by then

Thanks evreyone for the advice! So from what i understand

1. launch xbpartitioner 1.0
2. Split the F & G drives 60/40 (uneven split)
3. format both F&G in 32k clusters temporarily
4. Reboot xbox
5. launch xbpartitioner 1.1
6. Split the F & G partitions 50/50
7. Now format in 64k clusters
8. Check that partitions to see they are evenly split
9. Reboot and celebrate if step 8 works!?

Also whats this evox test im hearing about?

@ run088 the hard drive you recommend looks like a good deal then! its pretty cheap compared to other hard drives. Looks like ill give the 5900 RPM drive a shot. Ill also get the dealextreme adapter soon! Ill probably treat myself with this when Christmas rolls around the corner. This adapter and hard drive combo seems pretty bulletproof.

@scullc let me know how the setup works! i hope it works for you and we can finally find an adapter that generally works for the xbox!

hopefully with all this research and help i wont run into any problems!

[firefighter1023]

I concur with the adapter found on deal extreme (originally discovered by Bomb Bloke, I believe). I had good luck with it using a WD 1TB 32MB Cache Green HDD. Boots 100% of the time. Only problem I had at first was with the initial formatting, not real sure what went wrong, I had the full 900+ gb on a single F partition. The drive wouldn't allow writing past approximately 200gb's. I reformatted and distributed evenly across F and G and everything has worked fine. I have almost filled the entire drive up, wondering if I shouldn't have tried a 1.5 or 2tb drive now . Using it solely for game storage, I'm streaming all media from a scrap PC hosting a few drives, NAS if you will.

[Bomb Bloke]

I concur with the adapter found on deal extreme (originally discovered by Bomb Bloke, I believe).

Nah, I was about the third guy to try it.

[aidhog]

@ run088 the hard drive you recommend looks like a good deal then! its pretty cheap compared to other hard drives. Looks like ill give the 5900 RPM drive a shot. Ill also get the dealextreme adapter soon! Ill probably treat myself with this when Christmas rolls around the corner. This adapter and hard drive combo seems pretty bulletproof.

FYI, here's my experience of that combo (good so far).

Also, you should order that adapter ASAP. It takes forever to arrive, and it's as cheap as chips (even if you don't eventually buy the HD, no real loss).

In fact, order two just in case.

This post has been edited by aidhog: Jan 6 2010, 09:41 PM