what's the difference in an IDE and a SATA hard drive?

Answer 1

sata = fast
IDE = slow.


becarefull thought if you get a sata drive make sure your motherboard can take it.

oh and sata stands for Serial ATA.

oh and i might add that sata are noticible faster on the propper motherboard, hey can have transfer rate of upto 2giga bits(pretty fast), IDEs dont, again you have to check what mother board you have because some do have the correct connection but you cant connect them at full speed, and as for that guy below, Sata drive are generally cheaper. because there new and IDEs are old and are becomming obsolite, jsut like new and old types of memory!!!

Answer 2

Last answer is incorrect in the fact that SATA is not more expensive, you can get the same size drive for the same price in both IDE and SATA. IDE is the common name given to old ATA hard drives, the important difference is that they use different connectors, so before you buy an SATA make sure your motherboard can use it. SATA is faster and newer, but the speed difference is not really noticeable to the average user.

Answer 3

First of all the price! Sata is more expensive,its faster,its a newer technology,it uses a different wire connection to your Computer, (so anything before modern Pentium 4's are no good..) Though they physically look the same, today there is no major difference between the two that an "average user" might sense, except the price! ;)

Answer 4

I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems.
Some RAM/hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful. Try this site, if you can get what is required.