Almost every computer made today uses some type of disk drive to store data and programs until they are needed.
Most drives need a connection to the motherboard so the computer can “talk” to the disk drive.
These connections are known as drive interfaces, and there are two main types: floppy drive interfaces and hard disk interfaces.
Floppy disk interfaces allow floppy disk drives (FDDs) to be connected to the motherboard and, similarly, hard disk interfaces do the same for hard disks.
When you see them on the motherboard, these interfaces are said to be onboard, as opposed to being on an expansion card (off-board). The interfaces consist of circuitry and a port.
Most motherboards produced today include both the floppy disk and hard disk interfaces on the motherboard.
Today, the headers you will find on most motherboards are for Enhanced IDE (EIDE/PATA) or Serial ATA (SATA).
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) is the standard term for what is more commonly referred to as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE).
The AT component of the name was borrowed from the IBM PC/AT, which was the standard of the day.
However, because ATA is not the only technology that integrates the drive controller circuitry into the drive assembly (ESDI, for example, was another), IDE is somewhat of a misnomer and not the best term when referring only to ATA drives.
Nevertheless, the original ATA standard was referred to as IDE and had an upper limit of
528MB per logical drive.
An enhanced version, Enhanced IDE (EIDE), was developed to circumvent the obstacles to accessing more drive space per volume, increasing the limit to 8GB.
Since then, the limit has been increased to 144PB through various enhancements. A petabyte
(PB) is the number of bytes represented by 2 raised to the 50th power.
If your motherboard has PATA headers, they will normally be black or some other neutral color if they follow the classic ATA 40-wire standard.
If your PATA headers are blue, these represent PATA interfaces that employ the Ultra DMA (UDMA) technology that increases transfer rates by reducing crosstalk in the parallel signal by alternating another 40 wires that act as grounds among the other wires.
The connectors and headers are still 40 pins, however.
The color coding alerts you to the enhanced performance, which is downward compatible with the 40-wire technology.
The original 40-pin ATA header transfers data between the drive and motherboard multiple bits in parallel, hence the name Parallel ATA (PATA).
SATA, in comparison, which came out later and prompted the retroactive PATA moniker, transfers data in serial, allowing a higher data throughput because there is no need for more advanced parallel synchronization of data signals.
The SATA headers are vastly different from the PATA headers.
Many motherboards, especially higher-end boards like those found in servers, also include the more complex SCSI circuitry built in so that SCSI-attached drives can connect directly to the system board without an external adapter.
a SATA connector
Most drives need a connection to the motherboard so the computer can “talk” to the disk drive.
These connections are known as drive interfaces, and there are two main types: floppy drive interfaces and hard disk interfaces.
Floppy disk interfaces allow floppy disk drives (FDDs) to be connected to the motherboard and, similarly, hard disk interfaces do the same for hard disks.
When you see them on the motherboard, these interfaces are said to be onboard, as opposed to being on an expansion card (off-board). The interfaces consist of circuitry and a port.
Most motherboards produced today include both the floppy disk and hard disk interfaces on the motherboard.
Today, the headers you will find on most motherboards are for Enhanced IDE (EIDE/PATA) or Serial ATA (SATA).
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) is the standard term for what is more commonly referred to as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE).
The AT component of the name was borrowed from the IBM PC/AT, which was the standard of the day.
However, because ATA is not the only technology that integrates the drive controller circuitry into the drive assembly (ESDI, for example, was another), IDE is somewhat of a misnomer and not the best term when referring only to ATA drives.
Nevertheless, the original ATA standard was referred to as IDE and had an upper limit of
528MB per logical drive.
An enhanced version, Enhanced IDE (EIDE), was developed to circumvent the obstacles to accessing more drive space per volume, increasing the limit to 8GB.
Since then, the limit has been increased to 144PB through various enhancements. A petabyte
(PB) is the number of bytes represented by 2 raised to the 50th power.
If your motherboard has PATA headers, they will normally be black or some other neutral color if they follow the classic ATA 40-wire standard.
If your PATA headers are blue, these represent PATA interfaces that employ the Ultra DMA (UDMA) technology that increases transfer rates by reducing crosstalk in the parallel signal by alternating another 40 wires that act as grounds among the other wires.
The connectors and headers are still 40 pins, however.
The color coding alerts you to the enhanced performance, which is downward compatible with the 40-wire technology.
The original 40-pin ATA header transfers data between the drive and motherboard multiple bits in parallel, hence the name Parallel ATA (PATA).
SATA, in comparison, which came out later and prompted the retroactive PATA moniker, transfers data in serial, allowing a higher data throughput because there is no need for more advanced parallel synchronization of data signals.
The SATA headers are vastly different from the PATA headers.
Many motherboards, especially higher-end boards like those found in servers, also include the more complex SCSI circuitry built in so that SCSI-attached drives can connect directly to the system board without an external adapter.
a SATA connector
NIce post sir
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