Which of these IDE drives has the fastest interface?

[rds1220]

I have an older computer with an old PATA . I was looking on Newegg and they have three different types of IDE drives. he problem is I don't know much about them. So out of these three which is the fastest IDE interface?

IDE Ultra ATA100 / ATA-6

IDE Ultra ATA133 / ATA-7

IDE Ultra ATA66 / ATA-5

 

[Dereck47]

Ultra ATA133 is the fastest.

Ultra ATA/66 has a maximum data transfer rate of 66.7MB/s.
Ultra ATA/100 has a maximum data transfer rate of 100MB/s.
Ultra ATA/133 has a maximum data transfer rate of 133MB/s.

 

[rds1220]

O ok. I didn't know the number after the slash represents the data transfer rate. Of course PATA/IDE is going to be slow when compared to a SATA drive with a transfer rate of 6 Gbps. Problem is this motherboard is old and cheap it has no sata ports.

 

[Paperdoc]

NO mechanical (spinning disk) HDD achieves a data transfer rate anywhere near 6 Gb/s. That is the max communication rate for the latest SATA versions, but the HDD itself is much slower. The best SATA mechanical HDD's can get to 150 to 180 MB/s (1.5 to 1.8 Gb/s) as an average sustained data transfer rate, but most new ones are closer to 100 to 125 MB/s, and older SATA units are slower. While these are faster than the fastest IDE units at 133 MB/s max (and probably slower than that average sustained transfer rate), the difference is not nearly as huge as you fear.

Aside from the speed rating of the HDD, what is the capability of the IDE controller on your old mobo? If, for example, it is rated at ATA100, no HDD attached will perform faster than that. And don't forget that you should be using 80-condictor ribbon cables from mobo port to HDD, not the very old 40-wire cables.

 

[rds1220]

I have to look and see what speed the motherboard can handle. I'm not sure. How do you know the difference between the 80 and 40 wire cable? Like I said I really don't know much about IDE HDD's.

 

[bryonhowley]

An 80 pin IDE cable us just a 40 pin cable with an extra ground line per pin to reduce crosstalk the pin out is still 40.

 

[Paperdoc]

Start counting wires across the width of the ribbon. When you get to 20, stop and look. Are you half way across, or only one quarter?

 

[rds1220]

Best answer selected by rds1220.