PATA is basically the same as what you might have known as ATA or IDE - with the wide 40 pin ribbon cable and header connector. (Yes you can get round IDE cables but that is mainly aesthetics and airflow - the connector is the same.
SATA is the new-fangled type of connector with a skinny flat cable with only a dozen or so pins. (Google will give you pics and specs). If your board is 4 years old, it almost certainly will be IDE (or PATA as you say) On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Alan L Tyree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I need some advice. I'm running Debian Etch on a four year old box. I > has (had) two disk drives, one of which dropped dead. > > Looking for new ones, I see P/ATA and S/ATA. Can I use either one of > these, or do they require special motherboard support? How do I tell if > my system supports either one? > > Thanks for help, > Alan > > -- > Alan L Tyree http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan > Tel: 04 2748 6206 Fax: +61 2 4782 7092 > FWD: 615662 > -- > SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ > Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html > -- Regards, Martin Martin Visser -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
