# 2.5" compatible with 3.5" SATA?



## EnglishLion (Aug 21, 2008)

Just a quick question.  Does anyone know if the 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives are interchangable?  I know IDE drives weren't as the 2.5 had a 44pin and the 3.5" had a 40pin cable but I recently bought a new 2.5" SATA for an enclosure and the connectors seem the same as the 3.5" drives.

It just occured to me that they probably are compatible and that a low power 2.5" drive might be a good htpc option for cooler runnning, lower power comsumption and quieter operation.


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## FR@NK (Aug 21, 2008)

Yea they have the same connections, I use them in my HTPC aswell.





Easy to fit 2 of them side by side in a 5.25in bay.


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## Deleted member 3 (Aug 21, 2008)

Works fine. Also with PATA they are interchangeable as well, the connector is just smaller for laptops. A simple converter works, there is no logic in it.


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## ktr (Aug 22, 2008)

FR@NK said:


> Yea they have the same connections, I use them in my HTPC aswell.
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> ...



Wow that is pretty clever!


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## suraswami (Sep 4, 2008)

ktr said:


> Wow that is pretty clever!



+1.

I did something similar with one drive and with just one screw.  Yes the regular SATA power and data connectors work fine.


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## Kreij (Sep 5, 2008)

The only place that you may have problems is if you are cloning the drive for restore purposes. If you clone a 3.5 drive to a 2.5 you may run into problems.

Some software will not allow you to do this at all.

Just a heads up.


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## hat (Sep 5, 2008)

FR@NK said:


> Yea they have the same connections, I use them in my HTPC aswell.
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> 
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clever, clever, clever. Wouldn't you get problems with vibration noise though since it's only being held down with screws on one side?


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## cdawall (Sep 5, 2008)

how are those held together in the middle?


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## Chryonn (Sep 5, 2008)

with sheer willpower! seriously though, if those drives look as light as they really are, it's not a problem holding them up on one side, i think i used to do that with the older chunky 3.5" drives, used to work a charm.


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## Pinchy (Sep 5, 2008)

hat said:


> clever, clever, clever. Wouldn't you get problems with vibration noise though since it's only being held down with screws on one side?



Yeah I have my 3.5" drives in at only one side in my case and there are no problems. And thats not with screws, thats with the crappy tool less kit TT has on their original soprano.

2.5" drives shouldnt have a prob with only one side in.


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## suraswami (Sep 5, 2008)

hat said:


> clever, clever, clever. Wouldn't you get problems with vibration noise though since it's only being held down with screws on one side?



I think the vibration comes on defective drives only.  Not that it has defect in recording and retreiving info, just their motor is making the vibration.


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