The last line of my post should have said 80 pin data cable, not 80 pin wire, I don't want to confuse you..

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On newer drives and Motherboards they are designed to use 80pin IDE cables, you would need to search google as it is technically beyond me to explain. All you have to do is go to a computer shop and ask for a ATA 80 pin IDE cable, they have three connectors usually marked Master for the hard drive, secondary for the second hard drive or CD drive, the last connector is for the mothereboard. You will need to open up your PC to replace, the old IDE cable should have a red stripe down one side the new cable should have that too, if you orientate both cables the same it will go on, also most connectors have a guide on one side, so you can not put them on wrong way round, but not always. If you have two cables in PC then replace both, after replacing go into the BIOS and look fot the AUTOdetect drives and it will set up the drives for you. Good Luck! btw ATA starts at 66 and is also 100 & 133 but only the poster above would be interested in that!

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I'm really don't know much about hardware. Could you explain to me in lamen's term?What is 100/133 and ATA? So the only difference is when I copy files to another drive it transfers faster? How much are the 80 pin cables? And will it work for my Athlon XP 2100?

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This is all I could find at short notice http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ATA.html but even I do not fully understand, all I know is that they recommend 80pin cables to go with the new Motherboards which support ATA66/100/133 and therefore I fit them, the computer works and it is fast enough for my client and myself. If you want to learn there is tons of info on the WWW by using www.google.com and typing in ATA IDE DMA .....

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Using 80 PIN cables will allow you faster transfer speeds. ATA 100/133 refers to you being able to theoretically transfer from Hard drive to hard drive at a rate 0f 100 MB/sec or 133 MB/sec. The 40 PIN cable only allows transfer up to 66 MB/sec. ATA stands for "Advanced Technology Attachment" You can buy an 80 PIN cable for less than $10 (US) Yes the 80 PIN cables will work on your machine. That message that you orignally posted about only comes up when your computer DOES support 80 PIN cables but the cables just aren't installed. Again, if you don't have a problem with your computer now you don't need to use the 80 PIN cables. The 40 PIN cables are fine.

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I should correct myself. I believe 40 PIN cables only allow transfer up to 33MB/sec? I think for ATA66 you still need to use an 80 PIN cable I think? I can't remember. I'm usre someone here will correct me :)

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Will like 'raincheck' said, I'm not takin advantage of my motherboard and it will make my computer more stable so I should change to the 80 pin? Since also I have 2 80 gig drives and I copy files a lot.

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Whether you switch to 80 PIN cables or not is up to you. But if you transfer files alot, you will probably notice an increase in transfer speed. Also installing 80 PIN cables is the same as the 40 PIN ones so you shouldn't have any problems switching over.

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