ATA66 and ATA100

[Sultan]

Whats the difference between ATA66 and ATA100? Is this some sort of cabling, or motherboard spec?

How can I tell just from looking at the motherboard whether I have ATA66 or ATA100?

Will an ATA100 Hard Drive run on ATA66 and vice versa?

 

[hoihtah]

i don't know much technical info on this... but i can tell you that there really isn't much of a real use difference.
especially since with current drives... ATA133... you can't transfer more than 66MB/s.

to answer your question #3...
yes.
to explain this in simple terms...
ATA 100 is backward compatible.
so if you have ATA100 drive in ATA66... then it'll run at ATA66 speed.
if you have ATA66 drive in ATA100 ide port... then your drive will still run at ATA66.

if you want a bit more technical reading on this...
read this

 

[454Casull]

There's no difference between ATA/66 and ATA/100 side from the fact that the latter allows you to transfer data at a theoretical 100 Mbits per second. However, to use ATA/100 both the hard drive and the IDE controller must support the standard. All the cabling is the same.

 

[cholley]

you can't tell really, one standard is a blue ide port on the motherboard, i have seen it on both 66 and 100 and these numbers refer to burst transfer rates to the internal buffer on the drive and not real data throughput.
either will work

 

[TheYetiMan]

So i'm not shooting myself in the foot running my ATA133 drive on my ATA66 mobo port and not using a PCI card ?

To tell ya the truth i tried it both ways and i'm happy without the PCI card.

Gateway made such a big stink about using an ATA100 drive when i bought the computer (when i was too green to know any better) and now that i know better i figure out that the mobo is a ATA66.

When i added another drive a few weeks ago it was an ATA 133 that included the PCI card, but i have chosen to live without the add on card.

 

[454Casull]

<< So i'm not shooting myself in the foot running my ATA133 drive on my ATA66 mobo port and not using a PCI card ? >>


Absolutely no difference whatsoever.

 

[Goosemaster]

<< << So i'm not shooting myself in the foot running my ATA133 drive on my ATA66 mobo port and not using a PCI card ? >> >>







<< Absolutely no difference whatsoever. >>



ACtually I disagree. TECHNICALLY there are advantages to the higher spec of ata100. It is the first to introduce error correction, albeit a meager alternateive to SCSIs EC, and allows for higher burst rates.

You probably will never notice the difference visually as it only equats to a dismal increase in preformance, but the extra speed IS STILL THERE>.