USB to IDE mobo connection ??

[Was_Just19]

I wouldn't even do that, i'd get an IDE cable and hardwire it to a USB cable, plug the stick in there. The IDE supplies the same voltage and plenty more current than what the USB stick would need.

Good luck to you with that.

[Dragynn]

I wouldn't even do that, i'd get an IDE cable and hardwire it to a USB cable, plug the stick in there. The IDE supplies the same voltage and plenty more current than what the USB stick would need.

Good luck to you with that.

Well thanks I guess. Was that slightly cynical or was ya honestly wishing me good luck? C'mon now lil buddy, I ain't messin' with you, I swear it's that easy, i'll do one today if you like, and be the test monkey.

Okay, i'll shut up now. Everbody on this forum likes buying extra stuff, i get that now. But my way is more efficient I promise you, less connections and gadgets in the chain, mean less voltage drops and better data transfer.

[Was_Just19]

I wouldn't even do that, i'd get an IDE cable and hardwire it to a USB cable, plug the stick in there. The IDE supplies the same voltage and plenty more current than what the USB stick would need.

Good luck to you with that.

Well thanks I guess. Was that slightly cynical or was ya honestly wishing me good luck? C'mon now lil buddy, I ain't messin' with you, I swear it's that easy, i'll do one today if you like, and be the test monkey.

I guess it was a little bit off .........  you did not explain how you were going to join the data wires from the IDE to the USB for instance ......  the devil is in the detail ..  some 40 wires to 2, which are discarded, joined together, passed through components etc ........  without which no assessment can be made of the theory.   

[Dragynn]

I wouldn't even do that, i'd get an IDE cable and hardwire it to a USB cable, plug the stick in there. The IDE supplies the same voltage and plenty more current than what the USB stick would need.

Good luck to you with that.

Well thanks I guess. Was that slightly cynical or was ya honestly wishing me good luck? C'mon now lil buddy, I ain't messin' with you, I swear it's that easy, i'll do one today if you like, and be the test monkey.

I guess it was a little bit off .........  you did not explain how you were going to join the data wires from the IDE to the USB for instance ......  the devil is in the detail ..  some 40 wires to 2, which are discarded, joined together, passed through components etc ........  without which no assessment can be made of the theory.   

Okay, fair enough, but the reason I didn't provide that detail, is because I haven't ever done it, I would still need to figure out details, but the system in question is really not in the least bit complex, only 8 wires to deal with on the USB side. Forgive me fer bein' a little cocky, but I am from Texas, and we always believe from the get-go that a thing can be done, and that we can do it.

[Was_Just19]

I wouldn't even do that, i'd get an IDE cable and hardwire it to a USB cable, plug the stick in there. The IDE supplies the same voltage and plenty more current than what the USB stick would need.

Good luck to you with that.

Well thanks I guess. Was that slightly cynical or was ya honestly wishing me good luck? C'mon now lil buddy, I ain't messin' with you, I swear it's that easy, i'll do one today if you like, and be the test monkey.

I guess it was a little bit off .........  you did not explain how you were going to join the data wires from the IDE to the USB for instance ......  the devil is in the detail ..  some 40 wires to 2, which are discarded, joined together, passed through components etc ........  without which no assessment can be made of the theory.   

Okay, fair enough, but the reason I didn't provide that detail, is because I haven't ever done it, I would still need to figure out details, but the system in question is really not in the least bit complex, only 8 wires to deal with on the USB side. Forgive me fer bein' a little cocky, but I am from Texas, and we always believe from the get-go that a thing can be done, and that we can do it.

I didn't say it is impossible, but would I attempt it?
Nope. Too complex versus the cost of achieving a similar result the other way.
Using a premade device all the necessary connections are made internal to that device.
Gets rid of all the complexity.

BTW, I have no idea what kind of USB devices you have, but there are only four connections on mine and two of those are power, leaving two for data. I guess wires in the cable might be doubled up for more flexibility, giving eight.

In any case, it is not impossible, but it is not easy or quick to do what you describe.

So if you do undertake it, good luck with it ......  I reckon you would need it   

regards.

[Dragynn]

Points well taken! But to me, the tinkering IS the fun part, this is the kind of stuff I enjoy, and do for kicks, I do understand it's not something most folks would want to do. The best solution I think still, would be to go for an IDE to compact flash adapter, but Scoundrel has a deal going for cheap USB sticks so...catch-22 I guess, still an interesting project for me, fire up the soldering station and have a go at it, who knows? I have almsot as much fun when the stuff i'm working on catches fire freaks Mama out a bit though, but that thar is even more amusing

As to # of wires, I refer you to diagram I linked to on previous page.

Here ya go, stuff like this makes me happy: http://transistor-man.com/Laptop_desktopcdrom.html

[Was_Just19]

Points well taken! But to me, the tinkering IS the fun part, this is the kind of stuff I enjoy, and do for kicks, I do understand it's not something most folks would want to do. The best solution I think still, would be to go for an IDE to compact flash adapter, but Scoundrel has a deal going for cheap USB sticks so...catch-22 I guess, still an interesting project for me, fire up the soldering station and have a go at it, who knows? I have almsot as much fun when the stuff i'm working on catches fire freaks Mama out a bit though, but that thar is even more amusing

As to # of wires, I refer you to diagram I linked to on previous page.

Here ya go, stuff like this makes me happy: http://transistor-man.com/Laptop_desktopcdrom.html

Yes I used to mess with a lot of stuff years ago .....  but there comes a time when one can say that if it costs $1 to buy then I would waste too much time trying to reproduce it with no guarantee of success. Nevertheless it can be a learning exercise  

Referring to your pic on previous page .........  that is a pic of a motherboard header .......  2 sets of USB connector pins plus 1 connection for the outer shield of the cable if used.

So each USB socket would have four connections, as said, two power and two data.

regards.

[scoundrel]

dunno guys.. reading el-dudes post about the speeds of usb and disk, this idea of mine seems almost silly 

[Dragynn]

One last thing amigo...and please don't take this as me trying to preach at ya or any crap like that, I just enjoy sharing knowledge with folks ya know?

This here, is exactly what led me to my very first patent, and subsequently to the sale of that patent, and that in turn led to more. Now what I have invented, ain't exactly earth-shaking, and i'm not even close to being rich, but I don't have to work at a job anymore.

And think about it, to you it may be an inconvenience to even think about doing a hardware like we've been talking about...

To me, what we've done on this thread, is identify a need that isn't being filled by a current product.

Just sayin'...I know what i'll be doing today. You have yourself a great Monday young brother!

[Dragynn]

dunno guys.. reading el-dudes post about the speeds of usb and disk, this idea of mine seems almost silly 

Well fer sure not with USB 1, and it's iffy with 2, but 3 is a different story. But of course that takes the proper interface on the mobo, which would mean it's a very new mobo yada yada and you lose all your value to shelling out cash for new parts. But USB 2.0 ain't too bad, I checked out a lot of specs on different sticks recently when I was considering something similar, and I would say if your old laptops support USB 2, and the sticks are either free or dirt cheap, that it might be a neat project.

Me i've got a lot of parts laying around, so i'm always working on these kinds of hacks.

[Was_Just19]

dunno guys.. reading el-dudes post about the speeds of usb and disk, this idea of mine seems almost silly 

Not really ....  it just depends on what you expect from it. How would it compare with an old IDE HDD and not a SATA one?

As I said much earlier I put a flash stick into a PC, onto a USB PCI card.

I even had it running 'live' rather than installed.

It made the PC very usable, and the OS could not be corrupted.
Ideal for what I wanted at the time.

I think though if I wanted a 'permanent' device I would use an IDE to CF adaptor.

I will though keep a watch out for a cheapie USN to IDE with a view to trying it sometime  

regards.

[The Chief]

It maybe could be made to work with some extra wiring ........  but I have found no reference to anyone claiming they got it working .....

Nope - can't do it.  There are two kinds of USB chips - host and client.  That rig has a client chip, you need something with a host (controller) chip.  You might be able to hack together from a USB hub circuit board and the circuit board from an old dead hard drive.  Sounds like too much work for the hoped for results, to me.

[Was_Just19]

It maybe could be made to work with some extra wiring ........  but I have found no reference to anyone claiming they got it working .....

Nope - can't do it.  There are two kinds of USB chips - host and client.  That rig has a client chip, you need something with a host (controller) chip.  You might be able to hack together from a USB hub circuit board and the circuit board from an old dead hard drive.  Sounds like too much work for the hoped for results, to me.

+1

Hadn't got around to thinking of that angle  

Surprising that there are none about ....  or none that I could find .....

[ElCuervo]

dunno guys.. reading el-dudes post about the speeds of usb and disk, this idea of mine seems almost silly 

Agh! No, dude! Please re-read the latest on that thread! I am sitting here running on USB right now, and it is absolutely acceptable. So many things run in RAM anyway that it almost doesn't matter except for large file transfers. Check out these numbers:

[root@localhost alan]# hdparm -T /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   876 MB in  2.00 seconds = 437.93 MB/sec
[root@localhost alan]# hdparm -T /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 Timing cached reads:   852 MB in  2.00 seconds = 425.83 MB/sec

Keep your flag up! 

[scoundrel]

dunno guys.. reading el-dudes post about the speeds of usb and disk, this idea of mine seems almost silly 

Agh! No, dude! Please re-read the latest on that thread! I am sitting here running on USB right now, and it is absolutely acceptable. So many things run in RAM anyway that it almost doesn't matter except for large file transfers. Check out these numbers:

[root@localhost alan]# hdparm -T /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   876 MB in  2.00 seconds = 437.93 MB/sec
[root@localhost alan]# hdparm -T /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 Timing cached reads:   852 MB in  2.00 seconds = 425.83 MB/sec

Keep your flag up! 

flag is up el-dude