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#1
08-31-2006, 10:34 AM
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How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
Subject pretty much says it all, I have a ~3 year old computer, not sure what motherboard. I've looked inside my case through the window and can't really tell, is there a way to check on my mobo specs or something or do I really just need to open it up and look for the right port?
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#2
08-31-2006, 10:41 AM
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Re: How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
Well if you know what kind of motherboard you have you can probably find it somewhere and see what kind of storage device connection it has. It will probably be easier to just open the case. You most likely don't have a SATA drive if your computer is three years old. Open the computer up, if the hard drive is connected to the motherboard by a thin probably blue wire then you have a SATA drive. If you see a very wide wire, probably grey or black, you don't have a SATA drive.
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#3
08-31-2006, 11:14 AM
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Re: How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
Open up My Computer. Right click on the drive, click properties. Click on the Hardware tab.
Under device properties it will tell you if it's on the IDE channel, or an ATA channel.
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#4
08-31-2006, 02:35 PM
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Re: How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
[ QUOTE ]
Open up My Computer. Right click on the drive, click properties. Click on the Hardware tab. Under device properties it will tell you if it's on the IDE channel, or an ATA channel. [/ QUOTE ] Hmm. That doesn't work on my computer.
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#5
08-31-2006, 02:47 PM
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Re: How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
Yeah, you might be right.
My home computer has SATA and says "Location 0 (Primary ATA Channel)" My work computer is IDE and says "Location 1" Not sure if all ata drives will say ATA in the location or not. Probably best to crack the case and check the cable/connector. If it's about as wide as a single finger -- ATA. If it's 3 or 4 fingers wide -- IDE.
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#6
09-02-2006, 04:06 AM
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Re: How can I tell if I can have a SATA hard drive
IDE is another name for ATA. Don't confuse ATA with Serial ATA (and yes, Windows says some confusing things about it--my parallel ATA drive is on an IDE controller that Windows refers to as a SCSI controller because it has a vendor-supplied driver instead of using the standard Win2k IDE driver).
Anyway, the best solution is to open it up and look for the connectors. As mentioned, ATA connectors are a couple of inches long and have two rows of pins. Serial ATA connectors have a small plug about as long as a finger is wide.
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