2006-08-27 06:42:52 · 6 answers · asked by wetwild4u69p 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
An ATA drive is the type that takes a ribbon cable. You might see it called PATA, where the P stands for Parallel.
An SATA drive is the newer serial ATA type. Many computer that have SATA drives, also have the connectors to accept ribbon cables. But many older computers simply cannot connect to an SATA drive.
While I recommend against it, you can buy an SATA adapter for your computer. You can always find the equivalent ATA drive to meet your needs.
Check out http://www.newegg.com
2006-08-27 06:48:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
An ATA hard drive will use a wide 40 or 80 wire ribbon cable, using a 40 pin connector. It supports a maximum speed of usually 100 or 133 MB/s, depending on the drive and controller.
A SATA hard drive uses a smaller data cable. SATA drives support transfer rates of 150 or 300 MB/s, depending on the drive and controller.
ATA drives are older and work in most PC's, while SATA drives are newer, faster, but will need a separate controller card to work in PC's that don't have SATA connectors on the motherboard.
2006-08-27 13:49:22 · answer #2 · answered by Bryan A 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
SATA is faster than ATA. The SATA150 transfers 1.5 gb/s. SATA300 transfers 3.0 gb/s. The SATA cables are also a lot thinner than the ATA cables, which allows more airflow in a computer's case. Right now the SATA drives are underutilized. The majority of other computer components compared to SATA drives is the bottleneck of computer technology.
2006-08-27 13:49:52 · answer #3 · answered by Te 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
SATA : A 15-pin Serial ATA power connector. Physically, the SATA power and data
ATA: A 4 pin Serial ATA Power Connector
2006-08-27 13:50:32 · answer #4 · answered by Harshad Bhadka 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ATA drive or parallel ATA drive uses the wide flat IDE cables and max out at aroun 100 MB/s
SATA drives or serial ATA drives us the thinner serial cables and have speeds ranging from 150 MB/s to 300 MB/s.
2006-08-27 13:48:42 · answer #5 · answered by Fremen 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they connect differently and ata is slower than sata. sata also provides better air flow
2006-08-27 13:45:33 · answer #6 · answered by PersonXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋