sata and ide

GJ02 · 22 Dec 2008 at 20:04

whats the difference between sata and ide drives ?
how do u find out what you have got ?

milkinc13 · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:36

SATA is faster and has sthinner cables than IDE. another difference is SATA can have only 1 component and mobo connection, whereas IDE can have 2 drives on same cable

finite · 23 Dec 2008 at 11:26

Sata drives also have a standardised connector layout which is why there are Quickports for bare SATA drives, but not IDE.

reflux · 23 Dec 2008 at 11:27

SATA uses those (usually) red worm cables, IDE uses carpy fat ribbon cables and a long connector.

GJ02 · 23 Dec 2008 at 11:50

i have a sata then as it has a red cable,
see with a new sata drives, is it as simple as plugging a power cable and a satacable into the mobo and drive ?
i need another hdd as im pictures and family vids etc etc are taking up half of my 260 gig drive
so i want 2 hdds in my rig

!TIMMY! · 23 Dec 2008 at 15:26

Yeah it is as easy as plugging in the sata cable and power cable. Sata 2 drives are backwards compatible, so will work on a Sata 1 motherboard.

GJ02 · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:22

do they normally come with sata cables ?

Nanobot · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:27

Dont forget to check the jumper so you can enable sata II @ 300mb/s.

GJ02 · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:28

Nanobot said:
Dont forget to check the jumper so you can enable sata II @ 300mb/s.

oh god here we go, and jumpers are ?

Nanobot · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:33

If you look at the back of the drive where the sata cable and power goes in, you should see some pins and a small (usually white) block linking two pins together. Based on the make and model, they usually say that the small jumper block needs removing in order to enable 300MB/s. Its a tricky thing to remove, but usually find it ok to remove with a needle as a tweezer is too big to fit between the pins. If there is no jumper block between the pins, you should be ok. Sample diagram.

GJ02 · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:38

thanks for that nano !

Nanobot · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:46

No probs. From experience people sometimes still forget about checking this and run at reduced speeds without knowing for a long time.

GJ02 · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:49

is there any way of checking via softwatre to see what speed its running at ?
this was built for me by a well known cyber etailer so i would imagine this would have been done, but is there a way to check without me disconnecting cables ?

Nanobot · 23 Dec 2008 at 16:56

Only one that springs to mind is HDTach but I cant say I have used it so I couldnt tell you how or where to look. There are a few threads in this section that might reveal what apps others here use, but I dont use them.