what is sata

[smokewarlock]

i keep seeing sata on features of motherboards and im assuming it is something like ata 100/ 133...my question is can i connect a regular drive to these connections? like a dvd burner, cd, or other drive that uses and ide connection or do they have to be specifically a sata drive?

 

[Boonesmi]

sata = serial ata
its a totally new kind of harddrive interface. which uses a different type cable then the standart ata100/133

so no, you need a serial ata drive if you want to attach it to your serial ata port. currently only harddrives are available in sata, but other types (ie. optical drives) should be released eventually.

 

[smokewarlock]

thanks appreciate the info very much...looking for new motherboard + cpu upgrade but need more than the normal 4 device hookup ablity

 

[Sheriff]

There are MoBo's that have PATA RAID which will give you more IDE hook-ups and of course you can go external Firewire/USB