SATA drives backwards compatable with IDE?

[stuman74]

This is probably such a stupid question, but I have not seen what a SATA connector looks like.

Are SATA hard drives only compatable with SATA specific motherboard connectors or PCI cards? Or can they also plug into the EIDE connectors on the motherboards. I am guessing they are not backwards compatable, but jsut wanted to check to be sure.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

no, the plugs are completely different.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

IDE Cable

SATA cable

 

[Macro2]

SATA has a nice small connector. Definitely a plus....where were these 10 years ago. <G>