IDE vs ATA

I

insomniac321123

macrumors 6502

Original poster

• Jun 23, 2007

• #1

What is the difference between IDE and ATA hard drives? Are they interchangeable in external enclosures?

 

flopticalcube

macrumors G4

• Jun 23, 2007

• #2

They are the same thing except for serial ATA.

 

I

insomniac321123

macrumors 6502

Original poster

• Jun 23, 2007

• #3

So PATA, IDE, EIDE, those are basically the same? They will all work in the same enclosure. What is the performance difference between SATA and IDE?

 

sushi

Moderator emeritus

• Jun 23, 2007

• #4

Just to add...

Serial ATA is referred to as SATA.

IDE/ATA has now become referred to as PATA, or Parallel ATA.

 

janey

macrumors 603

• Jun 23, 2007

• #5

insomniac321123 said:

So PATA, IDE, EIDE, those are basically the same? They will all work in the same enclosure. What is the performance difference between SATA and IDE?

Click to expand...

different name, essentially same thing.

as for performance differences, it depends on which SATA and which IDE you're talking about. And it sort of depends on your entire setup in general. for enclosures though, do you honestly care about nitpicking performance?

 

I

insomniac321123

macrumors 6502

Original poster

• Jun 23, 2007

• #6

Thanks for the quick answers. I was just trying to clear it up in my mind.

 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus

• Jun 23, 2007

• #7

If you're buying a new external drive, get SATA, merely because there're more things you can do with the drive later (i.e. put it in as an internal on another computer, etc). Almost all new computers use SATA now, so you might as well, also, unless you're saving rather a lot of money on the PATA drive.