I recently took apart a Computer I picked up off the streets. It has a Barracuda Seagate 7200.8 400GB Harddrive in it. I did a litte research and apparently it's a PATA drive. MODEL: ST3400832A. I don't understand the whole ATA/PATA/SATA thing. Also could I use this bad boy in a new setup?
Barracuda HDD
- Thread starter MlgKa1z3r
- Start date
Ready for some confusion?
ATA and PATA are the same thing. Before SATA drives came out, all consumer hard drives (what you or I would typically buy) were all ATA. Then SATA came out. The S in SATA refers to it's serial type of connection. Because the original ATA drives used a parallel type of communications someone had the idea of appending the 'P' to the name to help keep things straight.
Just a note for you as well, there is still a large following of people (myself included) who call PATA drives "IDE" which refers to the physical connection on the drive.
One thing to remember, with these is SATA drives have two advantages over the older IDE drives. 1) is speed 2) the physical connection. The old IDE drives used a ribbon cable that was hard to make look nice inside a case and did a wonderful job at blocking airflow. The SATA cable is very thing and easy to work with.
As for using it in a new rig, I'd be hesitant. First you don't k now what might be wrong with that drive. It could be in perfect shape, or it could be on the fast track to death. If you do want to take the chance and your computer has an avalible IDE connection there is no reason why you couldn't use it.
ATA and PATA are the same thing. Before SATA drives came out, all consumer hard drives (what you or I would typically buy) were all ATA. Then SATA came out. The S in SATA refers to it's serial type of connection. Because the original ATA drives used a parallel type of communications someone had the idea of appending the 'P' to the name to help keep things straight.
Just a note for you as well, there is still a large following of people (myself included) who call PATA drives "IDE" which refers to the physical connection on the drive.
One thing to remember, with these is SATA drives have two advantages over the older IDE drives. 1) is speed 2) the physical connection. The old IDE drives used a ribbon cable that was hard to make look nice inside a case and did a wonderful job at blocking airflow. The SATA cable is very thing and easy to work with.
As for using it in a new rig, I'd be hesitant. First you don't k now what might be wrong with that drive. It could be in perfect shape, or it could be on the fast track to death. If you do want to take the chance and your computer has an avalible IDE connection there is no reason why you couldn't use it.
