Difference Between SATA And IDE Hard Drive

The Difference Between SATA And IDE Hard Drive

SATA hard drive and IDE hard drive are common mass storage devices that we use in our computer systems. SATA and IDE are different types of cables used on the hard drive systems to connect to your hardware. SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment and IDE for Integrated Drive Electronics. They are used mostly in hard drive attachment, solid state drives and floppy drives.

IDE hard drive was the first of the two to be introduced to the consumer market. SATA hard drive is an advanced and less complex connection method, which introduces a range of changes to the IDE hard drive. SATA is an advanced version of the ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment. SATA sends the data through high-speed cables and conductors, and it uses the same basic command set as previous ATA devices but does this via a more advanced standard.

The Physical Differences

SATA hard drive is connected via 7 pins, whereas a massive 40 pins connect the IDE hard drive. This makes the IDE the bulkier connection method of the two, although the SATA is longer in length meaning the connection can travel further. The IDE ribbon style attachment is harder to use and attach and doesn't reach as far as that on the SATA drive. Another one of the highlights of SATA is that it offers more efficient and faster data transfer to users.

The IDE hard drive attachment is slightly trickier to attach as sometimes there may be two hard drives or CD drives that it has to attach to, and so you will need to use jumpers to attach them altogether. As it's also bigger and connects to your computer at the back this can sometimes block the fan and cause damage to the machine. Whereas with the SATA hard drive there is always only one attachment needed. The complexity of IDE is definitely for the more advanced computer user when it comes to this instance.

The Working Differences

Both do the same job of transferring data but the SATA hard drive will do this much more quickly than the IDE hard drive. The IDE hard drive transfers data from speeds of 5 MB per second and has never really developed any faster speeds. Whereas the SATA drive can go as much as 10 times faster than this and it is constantly advancing, with new versions having quicker speeds every time.

SATA hard drive also works easier with its more advanced cables. It allows data to transfer at a steady space so you don't have the issue of bursts of data which can cause your PC to freeze when trying to access your stored data. As compared to IDE hard drive, SATA hard drive is fast becoming the standard hard drive used in most instances. It is smaller, faster and reaches further, and so it's an obvious choice. You can find SATA hard drive being used in the majority of desktop computers on the market at present.