Whats pata?

[SpeedZealot369]

Hey, this hard drive "pata" term came out of nowhere and now everyone is selling one of them. What is it? how does it compare to sata? how do you know if your motherboard supports it?


Thanks.

I tried searching but all I see is fs/ft threads..

 

[stevty2889]

PATA= Parallel ATA also refered to as IDE, SATA=Serial ATA. PATA hard drives use the same cable and connections as your CD/DVD drives.

 

[The J]

PATA is what people call the older ATA/IDE interface, with the large ribbon cables. It's just used to differentiate it from SATA.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Omg thats it? I read once that it's an external sata drive (?) so it was a little confusing. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

 

[Rubycon]

Analog version of PETA. :laugh:

 

[Zepper]

Both SATA and IDE drives are IDE drives
Both SATA and ATA drives are ATA drives.

So how to clearly and concisely differentiate between them in speech and writings?

The consensus became PATA for the old technology drives and SATA for serial. When you don't need to differentiate as when speaking of the class that includes both, just use ATA or IDE.

.bh.