[Soekris] Net5501 - Debian 4.0 "Etch" - from EIDE to SATA

[Wim Vandeputte Mailing list only]

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 05:41:37PM +0200, Diego Pastore wrote:
> another question: I already have a pata hdd mounting kit, can I only buy 
> standard sata data and power cable rather than sata mounting kit?

The metal bracket and spacers in both the SATA and PATA kit are the same,
you just need the right cables.

http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07398.jpg.html
http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07399.jpg.html

First of all, you need a right angle SATA data cable and short SATA power
cable, like:

http://soekris.kd85.com/images/tn/5501-sata-mounting.jpg.html

As you can see it's a tight fit

And don't get one with the angle in the 'wrong' direction:

http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07148.jpg.html

If you can't find a SATA data cable with a right angle connector, you can
take a straight one and cut of the excess plastic and fold the connector:

http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07776.jpg.html

Not very clean but it works just fine.

The SATA power cable is the most difficult to find (I have not found it
in the wild), but you can chain together 2 other comon cables to make one:

http://soekris.kd85.com/images/tn/dsc08066.jpg.html
http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07147.jpg.html
http://soekris.kd85.com/images/dsc/tn/dsc07738.jpg.html

Good luck in trying to fit that into a regular case though ;-)

For test setups it's OK and it also allows you to power extra devices like
a Digium VOIP card for example

> sata mounting kit is cheap, but shipping to Italy are very expensive, 
> four/five times as kit cost!

Just ask for regular mail shipping, it's only EUR 5

Wim.