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I removed the DVD-RW from my laptop and want to use the new area as an IO port instead. There is an Arduino Nano with me which can fit into the emptied out drive space and there are some easy to connect IO headers with me.

The only (major) problem is how can i connect the Arduino to the slimline SATA port of the DVD drive. There are some SATA to USB converters available in the market, but will they work? (as i am trying to connect it the other way around)

Is there any possible way to connect the Arduino to the SATA port, and even if i would be able to connect it, would i be able to use it as a regular Arduino as if it were connected to a USB port?

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No, there is no way of connecting an Arduino to a SATA port. You require USB or UART. SATA is a specific dedicated port, whereas USB is, as the name suggests, Universal. So USB can become SATA but SATA can never become USB.

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  • Ok, that must be the case. Why else are there no available products? Is it so because the protocol used in SATA does not support what USB supports?
    – wolfram77
    Commented Aug 5, 2017 at 13:22
  • SATA supports SATA and only SATA. Because SATA is SATA. It is, as its name suggests, Serial ATA. Nothing more, nothing less. USB is a UNIVERSAL Serial Bus. It's like a piece of wire. SATA is the metal down the middle, and USB is the plastic round the outside. The plastic can contain the metal, but the metal cannot contain the plastic. The plastic could also contain a fibre optic instead of the metal. Or it could contain water. Or air. Or any other number of things. The metal will always be the metal though.
    – Majenko
    Commented Aug 5, 2017 at 13:25
  • There is a USB port right next to the CD drive. I think i could solder those USB pins with 2 switches to connect / disconnect data with the arduino. That way if no device is connected to that usb port, i could connect it to the arduino.
    – wolfram77
    Commented Aug 5, 2017 at 13:26
  • Doable, sure. You may also find another USB port inside the computer somewhere. Maybe there is an SD card slot that is connected through USB you could sacrifice, for example.
    – Majenko
    Commented Aug 5, 2017 at 13:28

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