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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Ata And Ide And Internal Drives In External Firewire Enclosures

Adamibook - Apr 6, 2005 - 1:38 am

Ive used macs for years, but I'm a neophyte when it comes to understanding hardware.
forgive me if I am off topic for this site - let me know if I need to look elsewhere.

I am hunting for a hard drive for storage and backup. I have an external enclosure for internal drives
http://www.enclosure-manufacturer.co...-enclosure.htm

My real question relates to IDE and ATA and what do those mean, and can I use ATA in my box, which appears to be IDE?
What about EIDE?

My secondary question - are there size / compatibility / manufacturer details that I need to beware of?

I'm using a G4 ibook, 1.07ghz, stock 256 with 30gbHD, running 10.3.8
Thanks
Adam

eddylex - Apr 6, 2005 - 7:46 am

Hi Adam.

SATA uses a little wire [I think 2 wires together]
IDE uses the large flat 40 pin ribbon cable.
If Your external enclosure is firewire and made for a IDE drive then no you can't use a SATA (ATA}. Also SATA requires a different power plug in then a EIDE (IDE) .
Being that your running a Firewire Connection the Size of the drive should not be a issue unless your running system 9.1 or earlier. Also in my opinion it is best to stay with a name brand drive IBM,WD,Maxtor just to name a few. Before you install the firewire drive,make sure your system is up to date and there are no Firmware updates also.

Best reguards,
Eddy

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eddylex - Apr 6, 2005 - 8:04 am

Hi Adam,

I was rereading your 1st post and I gave you some wrong info.
Let me make this correction. you were asking about ATA and not SATA.
Here is the corrected Info:
ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is the official name for what the computer industry calls computer industry calls Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE).
Sorry for the mix up.

Best Reguards
Eddy

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Adamibook - Apr 6, 2005 - 11:22 am

Thanks for the help Eddy. So if I understand correctly, I can use ATA drives in my IDE box (since they are actually referring to the same thing) but NOT SATA in my IDE box.

On a different note, the user reviews seem about equally divided between people saying "only use Maxtor, cause Western Digital is garbage" and people who say "only use WD because M is garbage".
Have you had particularily good (or bad) experience with either of these companys?

Thanks again,
Adam

eddylex - Apr 6, 2005 - 3:42 pm

Hi Adam,

Yes you should be able to use the ATA or the IDE drive being that both are really the same meaning.
As for the brand to use, that would be your choice.
Right now I have 2 80 gig WD hdds and 2 100 gig IBM hdds installed on my PC. I've use WD, IBM and Maxtor at one time or the other and I've had good luck with all three .
I would use any of the three for my own use, but the choice is yours.

Reguards,
Eddy

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