Can I use a SATA hard drive in this computer?

I inherited a HP Compaq Business Desktop d530 Series computer; it's the Convertible Mini-Tower version of the d530 series. When I received it, it had no hard drive in it. I now have an old 10GB HD in it.

I'm wondering whether I can use a SATA HD in this computer. I'm really not familiar with SATA, so I'm a bit puzzled about this. The link cited above says the computer has two SATA ports. The motherboard has two SATA connectors; they are labeled SATA 0 and SATA 1. I presume they are the "ports" mentioned in the reference.

As far as I know, all the d530 series computers were sold with IDE drives in them. The link cited above says Hard Drive Interfaces Supported: 2 ULTRA ATA/100 interfaces, and Hard Drive Controller (PCI) Supported: ULTRA ATA 100/66/33.

The power supply has no SATA power cable/connector coming from it, but I believe adapters are available. Is that right? Or, would I need to replace the power supply with one that has a SATA power cable?

So, to reiterate... two questions:
1. Can I use a SATA HD without buying a special PCI controller card?
2. Would I need to replace the power supply?

 

According to the details listed in your linked page and your own comments, the Mini-Tower is fitted with 2 SATA ports; buy a SATA power adapter and a SATA cable and you should be able to use a SATA HDD, no PCI controller card required.

The standard PSU should work ok.

 

Thanks, satrow. Good to have some confirmation on this before I buy a SATA hard drive.

 

The only problem I can see is that the SATA interface will only accept SATA 150 drives instead of SATA 300 drives. Just a thought.

 

http://www.directron.com/idesatas4to2.html

Something like this is what you need . . . and the data cable:

http://www.directron.com/satacable.html

You can still use a SATA 3gb drive, but it will operate at the lower (1.5gb) data speed. On some drives you have to change a jumper.

 

Spad,
Musta been a typo, don't you mean 300GB drive?

 

Hi, Puppywunder58

No typo. The 300 (3gb) or 150 (1.5gb) refers to the data thru-put capability of the drive, not the capacity (size) of the drive.

The first generation of Serial ATA drives came out with a data thru-put of 1.5 giga-bits of data. Serial ATA II is capable of 3.0 giga-bits of data thru-put. If your board only supports the 1.5 it's ok - you can install a drive with 3.0 capability and it will revert to the 1.5 thru-put - but like I said earlier, some drives require you adjust a jumper on the drive itself.

I don't think there is a limit on the capacity (size) drive you can install - except perhaps where the operating system is concerned.

Spad

 

Thank you for filling me in on things. I have an older ABIT AN-7 MB that has a SATA connector on it. The only problem I've seen is finding an HD that has the jumpers on it. Some older Seagates have these, but the dummies don't include the jumpers with the drives.

 

The AN7 is a SATA 1.5gb board. If you need a jumper I once fabricated one from an earring back LOL My wife wasn't too happy when she went to put that particular pair on . . . I played dumb. :innocent

Actually, if the drive has no jumpers with it, then it shouldn't need them in my experience. Some drives will auto adjust to the thru-put of the port it is connected to, so no jumper is needed.

 

Thanks, that was helpful info. And, thanks for posting the links to a supplier for cables.

 

Hi Spad,
Thanks for the advice. I think it would be a good idea to have people locate and download the SATA drivers needed for their MB also, don't you? They may have to consult the MB manual to find what controller chip is on the MB.