[blue68f100]

As Andy has said this is his opinions so NO BASHING. If you agree fine if not fine. You can post your opinions too.

What Andy has said makes perfect sense to me. PATA HD are getting more expensive even the smaller capacities.

I have tried the FreeNAS, yes it does work, but if you have a problem you loose every thing in my testing. So to some it may work fine. I find using one of my old PC's with Windows OS and make the drive shared is more reliable and easier. But if you deal with MS you have to deal with all of the problems that associate with it. So I'm staying with my faithful 4500. I still use my 2200 because it is quiet and work for my main desktop pc. But it has problems with newer OS's in a big way.

Fitting SATA to PATA is not a easy task in the confined space of a 4500 sled. Then you have to have one that will not crap out during heavy use and handles hot sinking. Then I think most SATA Converters are not design for 24/7 operation. I know from past experience it takes time to build and fully test hardware.

If a set of converters cost us $400 (100/sled) it will still be cheaper than buying 1/2 or less capacity PATA drives.