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are ATA controllers and IDE controllers the same thing? coz on soem sites it says ATA and other sites it says IDE.
For practical purposes they are one and the same. IDE is the type of interface for drives, ATA is the version (speed)that a particular IDE channel supports. Maybe someone with more knowledge in this area can elaborate, or correct me if I am wrong.
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The IDE controller is on the hard drive.The Ultra ATA controller is on a PCI card or on the motherboard for recent computers and you need a driver to get the full advantages it offers.This will let you install a drive with more than 137 GB.The ATA spec. was developped for the IDE hard drive and goes back to the one port with two IDE units found on 386 and 486 computers.It was updated to accomodate the faster hard drives and more than two drives.Good luck.
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OntheHill has it about right. IDE referes to the interface of the hard disk and is a hardware spec. ATA the method of trasmission of data and is a software spec.
You will also come across UDMA which is also used in place ot ATA. UDMA is specification within the ATA specification. Replaced the PIO specification.
You can find more info on the specs on Google. type define:PIO and take it form there.
Stuart
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oh right, if i buy a controller card for my hard drive would it work the same way as the one on the motherboard? coz i recently bought a new hard drive and i need an overlay for it to work. so i want to get a controller so i dont need the overlay.
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As long as its an IDE controller and supports ATA which most do, preferby ATA133 but ATA100 will do, it will work just the same as the onboard controller.
Be aware that if your drive is ATA66 or above you will need an 80 way cable. The 40way cable that came with ATA33 disks will only allow your drive to work at ATA33 speeds.
Stuart
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oh ok
I been lookin at this one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2777769785&category=3753
and this is my hard drive:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=32
do you think they will work together? thanks alot for your help.
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The only problem with any add in card is resource sharing. With onboard controllers the IRQs assigned are not usually shared with other devices. With an add in card, depending on the MB capabilities, you could end up with resource sharing in ways that aren't desirable. That said, it isn't a reason not to add one if you need it. Just be aware and check above after installing. You always have the option of moving drives to different channels to optimize performance.
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