Sata Controller Questions

im looking at buying a sata controller for my mac but heres my question, will any sata controller work? i can get sata controllers on ebay for 10 bucks after s&h but "mac" sata controllers cost PRETTY PINK COWBELL 60 bucks, for 60 bucks i can buy external sata enclusres but i dont want to do that because of the lack of desk space. Any ideas?

no ideas?

The problem you have is DRIVERS if you buy an external USB to SATA box or USB to SATA dongle it is MOST LIKELY going to work because USB external drive drivers are standard now and this is what your setup would look like to the computer.

If however you bought a SATA interface ISA/PCI/PCI-E/cardbus etc then it would have to be a model that had specific drivers for the operating system you are running.

ok thanks

I wanted a new drive and looked into this.

The only SATA cards I could find for the mac where a bit pricey (about $100)

In the end I went for an external USB drive, that gave me a fast drive without spending too much money

actually i was lucky enough to get a sata controller for 12 bucks off ebay.

in that case you will have to go to the vendor site and look for any drivers

If there is no stated support for os x you are risking buying a SATA drive and it may or may not work

There is some info on SATA cards on www.xlr8yourmac.com (I think)

If the card doesn't work you can always resell it on Ebay and go for the external option

the guy i bought it from said it would work with mac