IDE, Sata, Pata Confused Whats the difference

[25glenmore]

:? :? :?

Please can somebody tell me the difference between these drives,
Do they have the same connections?
Can i take out a IDE drive and change with Sata or Pata?

:?: :?: :?:

[Danno]

IDE or PATA (Parallel ATA)

Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) is a standard interface for connecting storage devices such as hard disks and CD-ROM drives inside personal computers. Many terms and synonyms for ATA exist, including abbreviations such as IDE, ATAPI, and UDMA. ATA standards only allow cable lengths in the range of 18 to 36 inches (450 to 900 mm), so the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATA

SATA (Serial ATA)

Often abbreviated SATA or S-ATA, an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link -- a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150 MBps and SATA II 300MBps. One of the main design advantages of Serial ATA is that the thinner serial cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor and also allow for smaller chassis designs. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA

[25glenmore]

Thanks for getting back so quickly,

But does that mean that i can take my IDE drive out of my standard motherboard and fit a PATA drive? but as for SATA i would need a mother board with the new fittings?

Sorry for being dumb :lol:

[Danno]

Thanks for getting back so quickly,

But does that mean that i can take my IDE drive out of my standard motherboard and fit a PATA drive? but as for SATA i would need a mother board with the new fittings?

Sorry for being dumb :lol:

IDE and PATA drives are the same thing. Around the time SATA drives started coming out people started calling IDE drives PATA drives.

If you wanted to use an SATA drive you would need a new motherboard or you could install a SATA PCI controller card.

[benwaller]

I am thinking of buying a new hard drive and my current hard drive is PATA.
Would you recommend I buy another PATA hard drive or a SATA with a SATA PCI controller card?

Is the difference between PATA and SATA noticable or would I be better off sticking to PATA?

[Big Beere]

I am no expert when it comes to HDD's, but I know for a fact that S-ATA is x10 faster than PATA .. I upgraded from an ATA hdd to a S-ATA drive - best thing I ever done :lol:

I dont know if you can get S-ATA2 pci cards [or can you plug s-ata2 into a s-ata PCI card?] (s-ata2 is even FASTER than S-ATA) but if you can, go for a S-ATA2 for ultra speeeeeed ! :wink:

Cheeeers,

Big B 8)

[Danno]

I am thinking of buying a new hard drive and my current hard drive is PATA.
Would you recommend I buy another PATA hard drive or a SATA with a SATA PCI controller card?

Is the difference between PATA and SATA noticable or would I be better off sticking to PATA?

this is a hard one to answer, i would say stick with ide however i know others would say go for sata.

an sata drive is around 15% quicker than an ata133 drive so in theory the difference should be noticable.

if you are running from a controller card it will not be as fast as running from a motherboard sata port however it should be a bit faster than an ide drive.

one thing that many people dont take into consideration is when coping from one hard drive to another. if you want to copy from an ide drive to an sata drive or the other way around the data will only transfer at the speed of the slowest drive.

[Big Beere]

True..

Personally benwaller, I would set the ATA hdd as the secondary drive and the new S-ATA hdd as primary.

Not only will you experience faster file transfering/saving/loading/searching etc.. but you have your ATA drive as back up.

Keep the best hdd as primary, and keep the ATA for a back up.. just incase :wink:


Big B 8)

[djgandy]

SATA isnt much faster.
Its about 166mb/s opposed to 133. (Don't get your bits and bytes mixed up :p)
There is no point buying a card unless you are planning going to SATA-II where you will see a larger increase. You'll have to buy a SATA-II hard drive aswell though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA
Explains it quite well i think :)

The main reason i'd go SATA is because the cables are much neater. I pray for the day when i can get rid of all my 40pin IDE :p

[Taxation]

if you dont have a S.ATA connection on your mobo then just go for IDE tbh
IDE is still good, if you are really that bothered then just spend 60 odd quid on a new mobo with onboard S.ATA, it will work better than a S.ATA controller pci card