Which Hard Drive do I have?
Tutorial written by KenB
There are 3 types of hard-drive. (SSD which is relatively new is not covered in this tutorial).
The 2 HDDs featured are, at the time of writing, by far the most common.
- [color=red]PATA[/color] – commonly known as [color=blue]IDE ( Integrated Drive Electronics )[/color]
- [color=green]SATA[/color] ( Serial Advanced Technology Attachment ).
IDE ( shown above ) is an older technology. It was first introduced into PCs in about 1986.
It is probably easiest to identify the hard drive by the cable. An IDE cable is broad ( 80 wires ) and grey.
The newer hard drives transfer data faster than the older IDE drives.
The connections are different: ( see below )
The cable for this drive is much smaller than the older IDE cable.
In a new future we shall see a propagation of the SSD Hard Drives that allow Operating systems to load faster. So stay tuned for a part 2 of “Which Hard Drive do I have?”
If you require further information use the Free PC Help site – click here
