ATA SATA HDD

[wolfy]

My hard disk is on it's last legs. It has an ATA drive in it. Can I replace it with an SATA drive?

[JAVO]

Yes, but you won't have SATA speed unless the motherboard supports it, and in this case you'll also need an adapter to connect your SATA drive to the motherboard.

Regardless, it does generally make sense to get a SATA drive rather than ATA due to better performance and price per GB.

Edit: Buy a Seagate Barracuda, and download their free Disc Wizard (aka Acronis True Image) to clone your current drive. Much less work that way.

[Jack Flak]

What Javo said is technically true, but everything will go smoother if you do a more direct replacement. Less to worry about. Plus, you'll never actually regret having ATA, because you won't be able to tell the difference.

Next time you get a NEW system, go SATA.

[wolfy]

Thanks for the advice.
I want to go the nice easy simple route. So I'll go ATA.

Still it seems there are a lot more SATA on the market now.

[Jack Flak]

Newegg.com - 250GB - 320GB, IDE Ultra ATA100, Internal Hard Drives, Hard Drives, Computer Hardware (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%201035907789%20103530105&bop=And&Order=PRICE)

[wolfy]

Newegg.com - 250GB - 320GB, IDE Ultra ATA100, Internal Hard Drives, Hard Drives, Computer Hardware (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%201035907789%20103530105&bop=And&Order=PRICE)

Thanks, I live in Japan.. I found some on Amazon Japan.

Now all I need to do is convince my wife.

[Xander]

Wolfy, check your motherboard for SATA sockets. A lot of systems were built at the change over time and they came equipped with SATA sockets but the then cheaper ATA drives.

Also note that you cannot use SATA on ATA sockets (just in case that was a thought). The two use entirely different plugs, cables etc.

If the worst comes to the worst I think you can get PCI brackets which will give you SATA ports but that's liable to be expensive.

[millerm277]

Late reply, but...

Open up the case. If there are SATA ports on the board, then there is absolutely ZERO problem with getting a SATA drive. The other thing to check for is a SATA power connector available. If you don't have one, don't worry, drives typically come with one. (They use a different plug.) If you buy an OEM drive (no box, just drive.), then you'll need to grab a power connector for around $3 (assuming your PSU doesn't have a connection for it.).

If your board doesn't have SATA ports, you can get an add-in card for probably about $20, but that's more trouble than it's worth, just get an IDE/ATA drive.