1.8" drives

macmodder · 10 Dec 2011 at 12:59

have 1.8" drives fallen out of favour? I'm planning a really tiny ITX build and a 1.8" drive rather than a 2.5" would be really helpful for space.

Also do 1.8" drives need an adapter (like slim ODD do)?

jamesfreddie · 11 Dec 2011 at 11:12

macmodder said:
have 1.8" drives fallen out of favour? I'm planning a really tiny ITX build and a 1.8" drive rather than a 2.5" would be really helpful for space.

Also do 1.8" drives need an adapter (like slim ODD do)?

Yes you need a SATA to mini sata adaptor.

macmodder · 11 Dec 2011 at 13:39

is that the same type of adapter us slim optical drives or a different type?

rpstewart · 11 Dec 2011 at 14:59

They're different, key being that 1.8" drives tend to also need a 3.3V supply so the power connector is keyed so that you can't plug a normal SATA power cable onto them.

Subliminal Aura · 11 Dec 2011 at 15:04

Why not go for a mini PCI-e SSD instead ? That'll basically stick to the board.

Also what motherboard form factor do you intend to work with ?

macmodder · 11 Dec 2011 at 16:14

It's going to be an ITX based htpc. I've yet to choose between getting a sound card or tv card (I'm not sure whether I can do without 'tv' and just stream) but there certainly isn't additional space for a pci ssd. It does make me wonder why mini-dtx hasn't taken off as a form factor - you'd think there would be plenty of people who would buy a board with 2 expansion slots.

Subliminal Aura · 11 Dec 2011 at 16:19

Oh ic, I thought you were going very small (pico or nano ITX). My HTPC in sig is mITX and was built with a 2.5" drive but if you look carefully at the board there's a large space next to the red PCI-e slot. That was were the mini PCI-e wireless card was that I removed, that slot will take a mini PCI-e SSD easily

.:SAmSuNG:. · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:16

My mobo has msata port underneath it. Im running a 120GB SSD as the only drive anyway so is there any point using this msata port for anything? Im not stuck for room or anything.