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ATA-100 and SATA-150

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I recently installed 3 WD Caviar SE SATA-150 drives. It was a surprise that the Serial ATA-150 interface required a separate controller and new cables. But that was my system so no problem when the delay came in ordering all the parts. Now, I have a client who wants to install a WD Caviar SE ATA-100 drive in his system. I have to admit, I have not kept up with the new drive formats. I don’t want to be embarrassed if this drive will require a new controller.

My question is: Is the new controller/cables only required with the SATA drives? Do regular IDE drive controllers handle drives with Ultra ATA-100 interfaces?

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Reply To: ATA-100 and SATA-150

In reply to ATA-100 and SATA-150

The big question, is how old is the system that the new hard drive will be going into?

And, does the BIOS have any hard drive size limitations?

Most systems less than 4 years old should have at least ATA 66 IDE controllers.

While an ATA-100 drive “should” function on any IDE controller, you are apt to run into a BIOS hard drive size limit on an older system.

If the existing IDE controller supports ATA-66, you should be fine.

If the existing IDE controller only supports UDMA 33 or slower, the performance improvement the user will see with a new IDE controller card will be well worth the extra $30 (US).

Chas

Reply To: ATA-100 and SATA-150

In reply to Reply To: ATA-100 and SATA-150

Thank you! the system is only 2 years old and has a >100GB drive already. It should be OK. Thanks again for your answer.

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