[SOLVED] Difference Between IDE & ATA

yankeebean · 10-09-2006, 05:12 AM

hi i would just like to know the difference4 between 2 drives

IDE & ATA

as i have a spare ATA drive and would like to use it (does this required a driver) or can you plug and play like IDE drives

**Fr4665** · 10-09-2006, 05:14 AM

IDE = PATA its the ribbon cable usually flat and grey has 3 connectors on it and is 80 pin. People call it an IDE drive or Paralel ATA or ATA

Thers also the SATA drive wich is serial and has a smaller cable but i wont get into the details

the point is yes you can use that ata drive. make sure the jumpers in the back are set to Slave on the secoind drive that you will install.

yankeebean · 10-09-2006, 05:21 AM

cool thanks for the info,,

**Cellus** · 10-09-2006, 08:44 AM

The exception to this rule in setting the IDE drive to Slave is if you're attaching it to another controller (different ribbon cable connected to a different spot on the motherboard), in which case if there is nothing else attached to that specific cable you can set it to Master. You can allocate out drives like the following:

Primary Master
Primary Slave
Secondary Master
Secondary Slave

Master and Slave you differentiate by the jumper settings, and Primary and Secondary refer to the IDE controllers. If you have nothing in the Secondary IDE controller you mind as well set any drive that goes into there as Master.

medicman25 · 05-11-2009, 06:57 AM

I have just bought a new computer which is using a red cable to a ATA hard drive (i am not sure if it is ATA or SATA - how do i know?). What i want to do is add my OLD HD from my old computer - but it only has the IDE pins.

1) I guess i want to know how to hook up the cables to make it a slave drive.

2) Can i plug in the IDE cable to the mother board - or do i need to hook up a red cable to this old hard drive?

3) How do i boot the system and get the old hard drive to be recognized? I am using Vista on new hard drive and XP on old hard drive?

4) Are there any BIOS settings i need to change to have it as a slave drive - or can i have it as a secondary master - i WANT to have the Vista boot all the time and then be able to switch over to the XP when i want to do something on the old hard drive.

Sorry for all this - but i have never used anything but IDE hard drives - so i feel lost with this.

**blah789** · 05-12-2009, 12:26 AM

Don't threadomance old threads! Start a new thread instead. Anyway to answer your question:

IDE data cable (ribbon) vs SATA data cable (red):
http://www.ixbt.com/short/2k2-07/ser..._vs_ata133.jpg
"twisted" IDE cable ("Belkin" I think? notice the connector is still wide):
https://www.totalofficesupplies.co.u...ges/714978.jpg

To make the drive slave you have to set the jumpers properly. If you look at the back of the drive you'll see something like this:
http://support.wdc.com/images/drives...rs/jumpers.gif
(example only! not the same for all drives!)
Nowadays most drives have the jumper settings printed on the sticker but if you don't see the diagram, search for the drive model number on the manufacturer's site.

3) part 1 just plug in the drives - one master, one slave.
I'm not sure for 3) part 2. Don't know if it'd be bootable from XP (which would be D: if it were slave - at least if set up the "old" way), but maybe with BCD you can now configure drive letters independently of their position on the IDE channels. I have no experience with this. Just ask around or google for how to use easybcd or vista diskpart.

Note: you probably won't be able to boot from XP anyway unless the old computer had the exact same hardware as your new: you'll likely get a BSOD as you have different drivers and a different HAL.

10-09-2006, 05:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
yankeebean Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 155 OS: xp	[SOLVED] Difference Between IDE & ATA hi i would just like to know the difference4 between 2 drives IDE & ATA as i have a spare ATA drive and would like to use it (does this required a driver) or can you plug and play like IDE drives __________________ *Getting There Slowly*

10-09-2006, 05:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
Fr4665 aka mr.fraggs Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA or Germany Posts: 2,965 OS: Win XP,Vista,Android My System	IDE = PATA its the ribbon cable usually flat and grey has 3 connectors on it and is 80 pin. People call it an IDE drive or Paralel ATA or ATA Thers also the SATA drive wich is serial and has a smaller cable but i wont get into the details the point is yes you can use that ata drive. make sure the jumpers in the back are set to Slave on the secoind drive that you will install. __________________ I don't subscribe to threads please PM me if i miss a reply. ------- Everest SensorView Pro DriverCleaner how to fix your game

10-09-2006, 05:21 AM	#3 (permalink)
yankeebean Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 155 OS: xp	cool thanks for the info,, __________________ *Getting There Slowly*

10-09-2006, 08:44 AM	#4 (permalink)
Cellus Moderator Networking Team Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 2,664 OS: Windows Vista Business SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3 My System	The exception to this rule in setting the IDE drive to Slave is if you're attaching it to another controller (different ribbon cable connected to a different spot on the motherboard), in which case if there is nothing else attached to that specific cable you can set it to Master. You can allocate out drives like the following: Primary Master Primary Slave Secondary Master Secondary Slave Master and Slave you differentiate by the jumper settings, and Primary and Secondary refer to the IDE controllers. If you have nothing in the Secondary IDE controller you mind as well set any drive that goes into there as Master. __________________ TSF Networking Team Virus/Trojan/Spyware Removal Help Donate!

05-11-2009, 06:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
medicman25 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Vista	Re: Difference Between IDE & ATA I have just bought a new computer which is using a red cable to a ATA hard drive (i am not sure if it is ATA or SATA - how do i know?). What i want to do is add my OLD HD from my old computer - but it only has the IDE pins. 1) I guess i want to know how to hook up the cables to make it a slave drive. 2) Can i plug in the IDE cable to the mother board - or do i need to hook up a red cable to this old hard drive? 3) How do i boot the system and get the old hard drive to be recognized? I am using Vista on new hard drive and XP on old hard drive? 4) Are there any BIOS settings i need to change to have it as a slave drive - or can i have it as a secondary master - i WANT to have the Vista boot all the time and then be able to switch over to the XP when i want to do something on the old hard drive. Sorry for all this - but i have never used anything but IDE hard drives - so i feel lost with this.

05-12-2009, 12:26 AM	#6 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,236 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Difference Between IDE & ATA Don't threadomance old threads! Start a new thread instead. Anyway to answer your question: IDE data cable (ribbon) vs SATA data cable (red): http://www.ixbt.com/short/2k2-07/ser..._vs_ata133.jpg "twisted" IDE cable ("Belkin" I think? notice the connector is still wide): https://www.totalofficesupplies.co.u...ges/714978.jpg To make the drive slave you have to set the jumpers properly. If you look at the back of the drive you'll see something like this: http://support.wdc.com/images/drives...rs/jumpers.gif (example only! not the same for all drives!) Nowadays most drives have the jumper settings printed on the sticker but if you don't see the diagram, search for the drive model number on the manufacturer's site. 3) part 1 just plug in the drives - one master, one slave. I'm not sure for 3) part 2. Don't know if it'd be bootable from XP (which would be D: if it were slave - at least if set up the "old" way), but maybe with BCD you can now configure drive letters independently of their position on the IDE channels. I have no experience with this. Just ask around or google for how to use easybcd or vista diskpart. Note: you probably won't be able to boot from XP anyway unless the old computer had the exact same hardware as your new: you'll likely get a BSOD as you have different drivers and a different HAL.