Is my external drive SATA or IDE?

SMed · 21 Nov 2011 at 20:40

I've got a Hitachi Touro 500GB 2.5" portable HDD but I don't know if it's SATA or IDE. It's new, but very cheap and USB powered.

Is there a way I can find out if it's SATA or IDE without opening it?

Thanks.

Werewolf · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:12

The description of it in device manager/"safely remove and eject media" might give you a clue (often they list usb to SATA or usb to IDE bridges etc).

SMed · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:25

I'm on XP and it doesn't say.

Philtor · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:32

Can't find anything on the Hitachi website but I would almost guarantee it's SATA.

SMed · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:42

Yeah, tried searching all over, can't find anything. I reckon it is too, it talks about Windows 7 in the documentation so it's pretty new and probably SATA. It's coming out of the enclosure at some point, just want to know if it's a SATA before I do that.

J.B · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:25

It's probably SATA as IDE drives are a bit pricey now a days. Just open it up!

SMed · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:29

J.B said:
It's probably SATA as IDE drives are a bit pricey now a days. Just open it up!

It's day one!

It's going in my new build which I still need half the parts for. Just as a cheap storage drive until prices become reasonable again. The OS will be on a 64GB Crucial SSD.

trickynickyuk · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:58

hi i would defo say it is sata as all moder drives are

Sasahara · 21 Nov 2011 at 23:54

Run CrystalDiskInfo, that may tell you the model of HDD inside, then just google.