There are indeed cheap SATA -> IDE bridge ICs. I'm currently evaluating some small, cheap IDE -> mSATA SSD adapters for disk replacements in industrial systems. The module with a mSATA socket and 44-pin laptop sized IDE connector is less than $10 from various online retailers.
Thanks, Jonathan On Fri, Aug 4, 2017 at 10:37 AM, Phil Blundell via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Fri, 2017-08-04 at 07:20 -0700, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > > > Can you actually buy SATA PHYs in small quantities now > > or even SATA to PATA bridges? > > I can't think of anybody who makes discrete SATA PHYs, and there isn't > a standardized interface for the other side of the PHY so I suspect > there would probably be no market for a chip like that. > > Commodity FPGAs with 3Gbps SERDES channels are fairly readily available > and I think you could probably build a SATA interface in one of those > without too much trouble. It probably would not be very cheap though, > and there would be hassle involved in implementing the SATA stack. > Alternatively, there are ASSPs like TI's TUSB9260, which is actually > intended for use as a USB-to-SATA bridge but could probably be bent > into implementing PATA using its digital GPIOs. It costs $6.44 from > Mouser at quantity 1. > > Phil > >
