# Ide, pata, sata,  sata2, ...

## defenderBG

I have an Acer Aspire 5020 and I have to buy a new hdd for it.

The problem is which interface. ATA/10, SATA, SATA2,.. . Even after hours of googling I couldn't find an answer.Here is a pic of the motherbord's hdd bay. 

Any recommendation wich hdd to take? 80GB is enough and it should be compatible to Gentoo.

Thanks in advance

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## NeddySeagoon

defenderBG,

Thats a 44 pin PATA/IDE interface, which is standard on laptops

A desktop drive has a 40 pin interface an separate power. The extra pins in the laptop interface are for the power. 

Whats the small white think next to the long black connector ?  

It looks like it might be a connector too.

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## defenderBG

I am hoping that it is some kind of a sata connector, because I want to buy a new hdd. the difference between sata and pata in price is neglectable, yet I hope I will get a good performance boast from using sata.

I read the specifications of my laptop, all that they say is that I can have a hdd, which is atleast 40 GB...

Is there a way to see if my motherboard supports sata (beside buying one and trying it?)

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## NeddySeagoon

defenderBG,

You will get a very small performace boost from SATA.

The drives are mechanically identical and its the head/platter data rate thats the limiting factor.

SATA can transfer data to/from drive cache a little faster and provides NCQ, which only makes a difference when you have a lot of I/O spread out over the platter as it minimises head movement.

Post your lspci output.  That will tell if your hardware supports SATA or not.

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## defenderBG

I know that SATA does not give a big boast compared to PATA, yet it is hard (and more expencive) to find PATA with 7200rpm.

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01)

00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port

00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11)

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge

00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc SB400 AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24 1P [Radeon Mobility X600]

06:05.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

06:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller

06:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

06:06.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller

06:06.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller

06:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

Thanks for the help

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## Monkeh

No SATA (as can be clearly seen from the picture). Sorry.

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## defenderBG

if you look at the small port on the right it looks as if it can be a sata port. this is why I am asking. it was not originaly connected to the pata driver that I have and thus I am not sure if it is so.

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## Monkeh

You have no SATA controller. And no, that is not an SATA port. Not even close.

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## NeddySeagoon

defenderBG,

Your lspci does not list any SATA hardware, so you don't have SATA

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## mattmatteh

are you sure you want a 7200 rpm drive in a laptop ?  sure it would be faster, but also hotter.

matt

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## Monkeh

 *mattmatteh wrote:*   

> are you sure you want a 7200 rpm drive in a laptop ?  sure it would be faster, but also hotter.
> 
> matt

 

7200RPM drives are not a heat issue.

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## defenderBG

Thanks Monkeh, NeddySeagoon - I just wanted to be sure of what I have before buying a hdd.

and yes, I would preffer 7200rmp. Even though I use a laptop, I need it because of the mobility and I almoast never use it on battery (my battery is even removed), so I dont care too much about battery life and heat issues.

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