ATA-100, ATA-133, What do these numbers mean? 3

[packdragon]

I'm shopping for a replacement hard drive. It's been awhile since I've had to buy one, so some of the new terminology is going above my head. I just need a 20 or 40 GB IDE hard drive. But some of the online listings say things like ATA-100 or ATA-133 instead of IDE. What do these numbers mean? What is ATA?

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[cdogg]

Here's some in-depth information:
www.hardwareanalysis.com/action/printarticle/1431

In short, there isn't much difference between ATA/100 and ATA/133 in terms of overall performance. You just need to make sure your motherboard supports at least ATA/100 to get decent results from a newer drive. Also make sure it's 7200RPM. Each standard is backwards compatible (so if your motherboard only supported ATA/66, then an ATA/133 drive would run at ATA/66 instead).

If you post back with the age of your system (possibly the make/model), then we might be able to give you a more specific answer.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[packdragon]

Thanks for the info! It's a Dell Dimension 8100 whose warranty expired in 2002. Not a very old machine. I was just worried that ATA was different from IDE. I feel better about ordering it now. Thanks again!

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[pmonett]

Might be useful to suggest making sure that the hard drive is connected via an 80-wire cable ?
There are two types of cable connectors, the original 40-wire for ATA33 (from way back when), and the 80-wire cable invented with ATA100. Many OEM disks are still sold with 40-wire connectors, although recent motherboards are starting to be supplied with 80-wire connectors. I just bought an ASUS A7N8X-E and I was pleasantly surprised to find a set of shiny black 80-wire IDE connectors.
You can connect an ATA100 disk with a 40-wire cable, but you will get ATA33 performance (ie a rather important hit). It is much better to ensure you have 80-wire cable to benefit from the performance of ATA100.

Pascal.

 

[cdogg]

pmonett,
Good suggestion, but just so you know, motherboards typically have been sold with 80-wire cables since ATA/66 arived in mass quantities back in early 1999. Just about every system I've assmebled since 2000 has come with them.

Nevertheless, it is a possibility and a good point to make.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[packdragon]

Thanks for the info about the wires! I wasn't aware of that. How can I tell the difference between 80 and 40 wire cables?

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[cdogg]

Well, the obvious way is to count the wires. You don't necessarily need to sit there with a toothpick and count each individual wire, but when you get about halfway across the cable, your number should be easily above 30. If not, then it's not likely to be an 80-wire cable.

There's an obvious difference when looking at a 40 wire and 80 wire cable next to each other. You can see how condensed the wires are next to each other in an 80-wire cable. A lot of secondary IDE cables are 40-wire, generally because in the past they were mainly targeted for optical devices like CDROM or DVDROM drives. So there's a chance you might be able to see an immediate difference comparing your Primary IDE cable to your Secondary one.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[weshot]

Dell system maintain pretty good documentation, you might be able to tell the original configuration just look up the service tag#.

my suggestion to you is compare the unit cost per GB, we may not see fit for 80GB years ago, but with large media DVD became commodity, 250GB 300GB is popular nowadays, if you spend $56 for a 40G ATA100, maybe you want to consider $75 for a 120G ATA133 ? I just bought a MAXTOR 250G they even throw in a SATA150 PCI add on card, that cost me less 60cent/GB, now I have luxary room to move big chuck of backup here and there without have to delete something first.

sometimes HDD will last longer then your next upgrade of computer. no matter what, make sure you get faster 7200RPM ones.

 

[Freestone]

Picture of 40-wire IDE cable:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable-c.html

80-wire, and 40/80-wire IDE cable comparison:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html

 

[packdragon]

Thanks Freestone! Just the kind of diagram I needed to tell the difference! Very nice.

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com