40 pins and 80 pins IDE cables?

Hello all .

What's the difference between 40 pins and 80 pins cables?

Do I need one for my new HDD?
It's a SEAGATE 80GB Barracuda ATA-IV (ATA-100).

Thanks.

transfer rates above 33 mb/sec require the 80 pin cables. All new hard drives need 80 pin cables to get max transfer rate for sure.

So how do I tell the difference between them?
Do they look different?

can I use an old drive with the 80 pin cable cos my 2 HDD are on the same IDE channel.

they all have 40 pins but you do need the 80(conductor)

40pin 40wire limits to ata33...so you will need a 40pin 80wire.

the difference could be difficult if you havent seen them next to each other to know the difference - one will be like your floppy connector with fairly fat wires - the other will have lots of thin ones...

you can use either cable on either hdd - the only drawback situation is obviously using the 40wire on an older drive

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/ata-66_cables.htm

scroll down half that page and you will see a Flat EIDE connector, this you can see is 80wire - if it were 40 you would easily see the definitions of the individual wires

so, an 80 pin ide cable could run 66/100/133?? coz' I just got an OEM HD w/o cable included, and the only 80 pin ide cable I have is the one that I got from my old ata66 HD ..