MGlolenstine Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I was wondering how I would be able to connect my SATA disk via USB. I've been looking at the pinouts for both USB and SATA, and I saw that USB has only two data pins, but SATA has four of them. How would I go about connecting them together, leaving power alone for now... Would I have to connect it via two USB connectors or can I just connect two of the data pins together, so I only have two? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rkiver Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Or you could buy a USB to SATA adapter for like $15. I mean I get the whole "let's hack it together". But when you can buy it for very cheap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGlolenstine Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 1 hour ago, Rkiver said: Or you could buy a USB to SATA adapter for like $15. I mean I get the whole "let's hack it together". But when you can buy it for very cheap? It's a nice idea, but I want to hack it myself... I don't want to buy adapters... I just want to feel that accomplishment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoSHMagiC0de Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Keep in mind this is not a simple pinout solution. This is a controller solution. You will need to build a controller. USB and SATA do not directly chat in the same language with the same pin outs and voltages. You will need the pinout to the appropriate voltages for the voltage side and then a controller (maybe a pi if it is fast enough (may need to write the software in assembly or C to get faster responses) or a special programmable chip) to handle the conversion from SATA to USB. Dude, thinking about it is making my head hurt and I'm lazy hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGlolenstine Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 15 hours ago, PoSHMagiC0de said: Keep in mind this is not a simple pinout solution. This is a controller solution. You will need to build a controller. USB and SATA do not directly chat in the same language with the same pin outs and voltages. You will need the pinout to the appropriate voltages for the voltage side and then a controller (maybe a pi if it is fast enough (may need to write the software in assembly or C to get faster responses) or a special programmable chip) to handle the conversion from SATA to USB. Dude, thinking about it is making my head hurt and I'm lazy hehe. Didn't think that it was that hard to do... sorry :D I thought that it would be just a cable that had SATA on one side and 2x USB on the other side, and we'd be set... :D I guess it's much better for me to buy a premade cable then... thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowinghot666 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 i got my sata to usb cords for 5 bucks i boot win 10 everything runns great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-ee Jones Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Yeah, unfortunately SATA HDDs require a SATA Controller to actually read the data and manage the interface. Much like USBs need USB Controllers to determine the device connected and help it interface from PC to device. There are adapters (as everyone else has said), but you can get things like docks and stuff for things like eSATA and even SATA to USB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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