How to identify an SMPS can power both SATA, and IDE devices?

Question

I have

• an old P4 with 2 UDMA HDD (totalling around 300G of storage, with a decent amount of real-estate yet to be used)
• purchased a replacement m/b + processor for my upgrade
• intend to move one of the UDMA HDD into the new computer

Technology has moved since the last computer.

Searching online for SMPS, how do I determine from the specification that the SMPS can power both SATA, and IDE devices? What keywords/description/specification should I actively seek?

As an aside - is it acceptable to use both IDE and SATA devices, or is this a no-no?

Answer 1

You want to get a power supply that has SATA power connectors in addition to normal PATA "Molex" connectors:

While it is possible to get adapters to convert from Molex to SATA power connectors I have never mamaged to get these to work - the SATA power specification includes a +3.3v line which the Molex connectors don't provide, and while some drives will work without it I haven't found one that does so reliably.

Most modern PSUs will have both Molex and SATA power connectors.

As far as mixing the drives? There is no issue as far as hardware is concerned in doing it. The PATA and SATA both use different channels, so one won't slow the other down or interfere. Obviously you want to use the fastest drive(s) for your boot and operating system to make the system run as fast as possible, so the only possible thing to watch for is boot device order in the BIOS to make sure you boot from SATA and not PATA.