SATA compliant board backward compatible?

[Treeline]

I'm looking at a system and have a SATA / IDE compatibility concern. If I build a sytem using a mboard that is SATA compatible, what should I look for to know that I can substitute my existing parallel drives for the time being? Are these boards typically backward compatible that way or do I have to bite the bullet and do a complete switch?

Looking at Shuttle XPC SN 95G5, Athlon 64 bit CPU, 1 G Corsair RAM, SATA compliant; but is there any way I can start with my old HD and CD/RW drives?

Thx...

 

[Dethska2]

Most (if not all) boards currently available still have IDE connections on the boards for CD/DVD and IDE (parallel) Hard drives. Some may only have a single parallel connector limiting you to two devices.

The thing to look for is the 40-pin IDE connectors. For each connector on the board, you can plug in two devices.

 

[manning1]

best thing is to clarify with the motherboard manufacturer.
which of your current devices are compatible.
for a daw i recommend you get a small hd for windows 7200 rpm,
and a second one for your tracks on seperate channels.
using 8mb cache drives for tracks is nice.

 

[Treeline]

best thing is to clarify with the motherboard manufacturer.
which of your current devices are compatible.
for a daw i recommend you get a small hd for windows 7200 rpm,
and a second one for your tracks on seperate channels.
using 8mb cache drives for tracks is nice.

That's what I've been using - a 40 G drive for applications and an 80 G for files, both 7200. I just have to escape the Win98SE blues; when I moved to 24 bit recording everything went to hell and the PIII / 600 / low RAM system chokes and sparks too much.

Thanks for your input - it makes me feel a lot better.