I purchased 2 replacement DVD writers for my system. Not being up to date on all of the configuration and cabling selections, I apparently got one IDE and one SATA. The IDE connected without a hitch. Now I’m trying to play catch up on the SATA terminology. My system is an HP Media Center PC m7167c, running Windows XP Media Center Edition. It came with a Limestone-GL8E motherboard. It shows to have 4 SATA connectors, which I have identified. Now for the dumb questions: As stated, the old drive was IDE, so I now have an unusable ribbon cable and power supply connection, conveniently located. The HDD appears to be SATA, with a red SATA cable connecting it to the motherboard. The power (?) connection appears to come from a ribbon cable that has an extra connection nearby, but too far away to use. I located connectors that can turn a standard supply cable into a SATA supply. Is this all I need? I guess I’m really not sure of which cable is the power and which is the data. Help, anyone?
