HDD - IDE and SATA

Croaking_Toad SG

What's the difference between IDE and SATA2 HDDs?

Can I install IDE and SATA HDDs on one pc? How do I go about doing that?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

IDE and SATA2 are very different.

IDE cables is works on parallel communication protocol, which is the total opposite of SATA2. SATA2 works on serial communication protocol, which is pretty much like your PS/2 mouse and keyboard.

Moreover, the size of these 2 cables differ. There's no way you can install both, unless your motherboard offer both IDE and SATA2 ports.

CasperX SG

So, which one is better?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

SATA2.

CasperX SG

Reason? lolz

I am not sure of which one is better...

What are the cons and pros for IDE and SATA2? Embarassed

SoulDivine SG

For your information. Almost all mainboards has PATA IDE interface. Without an PATA IDE interface, you cannot even install your internal cd-rom or dvd-rom drives.

PATA = Parallel Advance Technology Attachment
SATA = Serial Advance Technology Attachment
HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Next, you can have both PATA HDD and SATA HDD installed in your system. My current system has two SATA HDDs and one IDE HDD.

In terms of pefromance, SATA HDDs are slightly faster than the PATA ones.

In terms of installation, it is much easier to plug and unplug the SATA cables than PATA cables.

Basically, there is no reason to use PATA HDD anymore unless your mainboard cannot support SATA HDD.

Farmerseed SG

It will be unfair to compare the pros and cons of this 2 generations of hard disk interface. The serial ATAs are slowly replacing the PATAs. However PATA hard disks are still around mainly because there's still the IDE connection available on new motherboards today. Its very unlike the sockets of processors which comes obsolete fast with almost every core changes. Also, there are external hard disk manufacturers using the IDE connection on PATA drives under their mod cases.

However, a few quick comparison of the pros and cons of PATAs and SATAs are the parallel interface faces corss-talk with their ribbon cables while its greatly reduced for the slim serial ATA cable. Signal travels faster with the SATA's(I) 150 although before the SATA2 (300) came about it wasn't much of a difference between the fastest PATA 133 and SATA(I) 150. SATA hard disk's cables are almost 'hot swappable' and can be easily maintained in the PC case which in turns promotes better air flow and keeps the case cool, especially on smaller cases that tends to cramp for space. Also eATA makes communication and data transfer of like drives easier and reduces the cost of the need for data transfer interface cards and hardwares.

The 2 drive interface exists for a purpose and until every options drive them/ it (i.e the PATAs) obsolete they will be around for quite some time.

CasperX SG

I see, thats an additional knowledge for me again. heh

What about graphic cards? Whats the diff btwn AGP and PCIE? Whats the COns and Pros?

Diesel_Dimension SG

pci express doubles the transfer rate of agp

Sagara SG

Newer cards nowadays come in PCI-E.. AGP = old generation liao.. Sad

Croaking_Toad SG

So it’s possible to, say, have a SATA HDD as a master and PATA HDD as a slave all on the same motherboard?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Nope, unless your motherboard supports it. Refer to SoulDivine's post on what's a PATA and SATA.

Farmerseed SG

When it comes to SATA there is nothing to worry about master or slave settings. The serial ATA connectors are numbered according to the default priority and the booting sequence of the drives connected goes with this rule unless you change it in the motherboard's BIOS. It is possible to have PATA drives and SATA drives in your computer. Even if you run short of IDE connectors i believe you can still get a controller card for it and plug it into the PCI2.3 slots.

However when using the PATA drives always take note that the master/ slave settings have to sing in accord with the optical drive/s installed in the same system.

Not to worry about loosing our IDE connections ever because there shall be at least one in every newer motherboards for the years to come. Optical drives (even the newer Blu-ray and HD-DVD) still relies on IDE/ATAPI connection interface. I believe only one or a few models of optical drives from Plextor supports native SATA connections on the motherboard.

Farmerseed SG

You can have all the pros and cons here

pci-e
agp

Let's just say that the story goes the same for these 2 interfaces as compared to the PATAs and serial ATAs. There is no reason for users not to switch from AGP to the faster PCI-e. Moreover AGP is fading away faster than PATAs IMO.

CasperX SG

i connect the sata2 hard disk, but the system don’t seems to detect it. whats wrong wif that?

orionlight SG

That is because your hardisk is not formatted yet Laughing

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. In the console tree, click Disk Management.

Then partition the harddisk and format it

CasperX SG

fdisk and format liao. but still no detect _

Croaking_Toad SG

Can't detect in BIOS setup? Or can't detect when in XP 'my computer'?

CasperX SG

Can’t detect in bios and also when installing OS.

Farmerseed SG

Would like to know more details of the specifications for all the hardware involved.