Easy question on ATA cables

[aznboi64]

My computer now is runnig on ata33. But I'm going to upgrade to an ata 100. Now what I want to know is will a ata 100 cable still work with a ata 33 harddrive & motherboard? And how do I distinct between ata 66 and 100 cable? I heard something different with the pins or strips.

[Placid]

Yes you can use a ata 33 hard drive on a ata 100 cable.

There is no difference between a ata 66 and ata 100 cable.

You can tell the ata 66-100 cables from a ata 33 cable because the ata 66-100 have 80 wires and the ata 33 has 40 wires.

[aznboi64]

thanks placid for the info.

[Crash893]

is there a program that will tell you what you hdds are currently running at? or just a plain way to tell?

[aznboi64]

Run Sisofts sandra. And see what PIO mode your on. If its 5 its ata/100

[Ridenow]

Originally posted by crash893
is there a program that will tell you what you hdds are currently running at? or just a plain way to tell?

Most times you can look in your BIOS and see what they are set at.

[Arkaine23]

Bios and SiSoft Sandra are the easiest ways to figure out that kind of system information.