X20 as a NAS - questions first

[Intergalactic Captain]

I've got an x20 and an x22 that have been gathering dust for a while and have been toying around with the idea of using one for an NAS (network attached storage). My issue, though, is that of the price difference between SATA and IDE hard drives... I'd like to use something between 500gb and 1tb, most likely 750gb, but as one can see from http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ , SATA is the way to go - and the price gap will only get larger as IDE drives go the way of the dodo....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 602_263622
...If I use something like that in between, the laptop should recognize the SATA drive natively as an IDE drive. With some (a lot, when I think about it) soldering, along with installing some flavor of linux, and I shoulld have a relatively cheap NAS up and running.

A few questions, though;

1 - Has anyone tried this - Will the SATA->IDE converter work as advertised, natively and without the need for divers? If it's going to take some act of god to get it working, I can always find another motheboard to work with...

2 - What is the upper hard drive limit fo the x20/x22? Will a 750gb drive be recognized?

3 - What version of linux would be best? I'm thinking DSL, I've been playing with it lately and it's quite impessive performance-wise on older hardware...

4 - Anyone have the LCD to motherboard cable or an x20 or x22? Other than the torn cables, I have enough working parts to build both of these - If you've got a cable that you'd be willing to part with cheaply, PM me - I'd like to finish these and sell at least one.

[rkawakami]

I believe that the SATA-to-IDE adapter you linked to is for a desktop motherboard. The IDE connector shown is 40 pins; laptop IDE hard drives have 44 pins (besides also having a different pin-to-pin spacing). Also a 4-pin power receptacle is included on the adapter. This leads me to believe that you would plug the IDE cable coming from a desktop motherboard, along with the standard 5V/12V peripheral plug from the power supply, into this adapter and then plug in a SATA hard drive on the opposite side.

I doubt that there would be a similar adapter designed for use inside a laptop simply because there usually is no spare room to put anything between the drive and the IDE connector inside the system. For the X2x systems, the hard drive cover slips over the end of the drive and the whole thing slides into the HD bay. When installed, the cover is flush with the outside of the base. Adding something between the drive and the motherboard means the drive will stick out.

One way you could use a SATA drive with the X2 system would be to mount the laptop into an Ultrabase and then use an Ultrabay SATA 2nd hard drive adapter. This adapter will accept any laptop SATA drive, however I don't know what the upper limit is. The other idea would be to use a USB-connected hard drive.

[Intergalactic Captain]

According to the description, and others I've seen, these adapters are bidirectional - As long as that's true, it shouldn't be a problem.

As for the difference in 2.5 and 3.5, that's why I mentioned soldering - I've made 2.5->3.5 adapters before - The pinout is nearly identical between the 2, the extra 4 pins on 2.5 drives are for power...These can be ignored and the 3.5 drive powered by an extenal adapter - If gong the other way, the molex power connector can be wired into those extra pins to powe the 2.5 drive. I don't have the pinouts off hand, but I've done it several times in the past without any issues.

...That said, can anyone comment on whether the x20 will present any particular problems before I buy any parts?

edit - I do have the hdd caddies, so the wiing of the adapter shouldn't be a problem - As I mentioned earlier, these two laptops are complete minus the screen cables and hard drives.

[Intergalactic Captain]

Nobody has any input? I guess the x20 series is alittle bit past its prime, but nobody can comment? All I really need to know the max size for hdd recognition in the x20 or x22, and if anyone has used one of these adapters - do they come up native or will I need drivers? Everything points to native, but I haven't had one to play with yet.

...Planning on picking up the parts this week, worst comes to worst I can find another system - Just interested in the x20/2 as a thin-client type setup for a (physically) small NAS - Don't really want a tower hooked up, for space and energy reasons.

[RealBlackStuff]

There's not enough room inside for such an IDE/SATA adapter AND a 2.5" drive, so a SATA drive in this drive bay is not possible.
The max. size ATA/IDE hard disk in 2.5" format is 320GB, and will be recognized in both X20 and X22.

[Intergalactic Captain]

You guys are not reading what I wrote at all... I am NOT trying use a 2.5" SATA drive in an x20 - I want to use a 3.5" SATA drive, through one of these adapters, then wired to convert 3.5" IDE to 2.5" IDE Power will be externally supplied, and the entirety of the setup put in something like a shoebox.

...So, once again, does anyone know the actual maximum that the x20 will RECOGNIZE, rather than the largest available 2.5" drives?

[RealBlackStuff]

The confusion was caused by unclear formulation of your question/problem...
I suspect you need to check the chipset in your planned adapter, rather than in the X20/22.
The adapter makers will have put in a limit most likely, cheap SATA chipsets are normally conking out above 500GB.