ATA/100 HDs

[genova]

I just recieved my IBM DESKSTAR 75GXP 45 gb HD today. It's a bare drive with no IDE cables. I was wondering if you need a special cable to connect this drive the the mobo or do I need to buy a special IDE cable? Thanks..this is the first time i'm building a computer...

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

Genova,

It depends on whether you want to use the full ATA 66 or 100 capability and whether your motherboard supports it.

As I recall, as long as your Mobo supports ATA 66 or 100 you can use a standard IDE cable to connect it. If your mobo doesn't support ata100/66 you will need a controler card.

Check your HDD's specs to confirm this.

hope that helps!

 

[piku]

This really isnt related, but it is. Whatever you do, get at least a ATA/66 controller, even ATA/100 if you dont mind spending the money.

People will say that hard drives dont sustain over 33 megs a second blah blah blah.... that is a high performance drive and its burst is WAY over 33 megs a second. Dont hinder your speeds, so get at least a ATA/66 controller card.

But your motherboard probably already supports ATA/66 so it doesnt matter. Im just ranting

 

[GoreBaG]

If your motherboard has built in ATA/100 support, will running the 75GXP on a reg. ata66 cable hinder the speed for ATA/100 or not?

 

[CrashX]

If you have a chipset that supports ATA66 or ATA100, you need to have an 80 wire ribbon cable. Most motherboards are smart and if it detects you have a 40 wire cable plugged in, it will set itself down to ATA33.

ATA66 and ATA100 use the same 80 wire cable.

 

[GoreBaG]

so where do i get an 80 wire cable, or will it come with my 15GB IBM 75GXP that i ordered off egghead.com?

 

[RSI]

If you want to run at the IBM hard drive's full ATA/100 speed, you will either need a supporting motherboard or a controller card (more $ to spend).

I would go for the ATA/100 controller card - why bother buying a 45GB ATA/100 hard drive if you will only run it at ATA/ATA33/ATA66? It just isn't worth it...

But then again, I really shouldn't talk - I am running an ATA66 Quantum at regular ATA-2 *puke*..

 

[genova]

I plan on getting the ASUS A7V mobo. The the HD should run at full speed on this mobo with a regular IDE cable right? Also do mobos come with IDE cables as I have none right now. If they don't, I can purchase these anywhere that sells computers usually right? Thanks.

 

[Ulysses]

Maybe to clarify a bit:

If you order a retail version of an ATA/100 or ATA/66 HDDrive you get the drive, pretty packaging, an 80-wire cable (usually), an instruction book and a setup utility on a floppy (usually).

If you order an OEM version you get just the drive.

To run the drive in ATA/100 or ATA/33 mode you may have to enable that feature on the drive with the floppy utility - I think they are set to ATA/33 by default to insure compatibility. You also have to use an 80-wire cable for the drive to function at ATA/66 or ATA/100 and all drives on that cable must be ATA/66 or ATA/100 or they all revert to ATA/33.

Your mobo or your add-in controller card, whichever you connect the cable to, must support ATA/66 or ATA/100 and must be 'enabled' also.

Lastly, an 80-wire cable is compatible with ATA/33, ATA/66 or ATA/100 drives.

 

[Fragmeister]

genova - your mobo will come with a ATA 66 cable and you can use the drive with ata 66 on your mobo. If you want ata 100, you will need controller card or Abit KA7-100. Eitehr way, your mobo will come with an ata 66 cable.

 

[pdo]

There's no retail version for the IMB HD. Your mobo should come with one ATA66 cable, but if you need more don't get them at you local store. Most likely they charge you $20 or up. I just got 5 ATA66 cable from ONVIA for $20 shipped.

 

[Horsepower]

All of the IBM drives I have received included the 80 wire cable FWIW

 

[randomlinh]

where'd you buy them from?

 

[pdo]

hmm! I bought my drive from BUY.COM and never got any cable.

 

[Bozo Galora]

I bought six drives from three diff places - never got a cable
most new mobo have cable in box

 

[genova]

I thought the ASUS A7V had onboard ATA/100 support?

 

[ccc]

onvia has the retail version of IBM 75GXP.

 

[insane]

hmm watch out with the asus a7v there are 2 versions floating around
one with 4x ide (2xata100 and 2xata66) and one with 2xide (2xide66). I am getting my asus a7v+duron600+ibm gxp75 15Gb next week i told my dealer to ship me the asus only if it's with ata100. I took the 15Gb because i allready own a 40,9GB maxtor i want to use the gxp for the oses and the 40,9Gb for extra storage. I think the gxp is going to kick mayor ass especially with ata100 IIRC all reviews of the gxp is done at ata66 ata100 should kill any other benchmark out there

 

[insane]

Forgot to reply on your question
if you buy the asus a7v ata100 version there will be a ata100/66 cabel in it. Hope this helps

 

[Jhhnn]

First, poke around the IBM website til you find technical descriptions of your particular drive,it should tell you what you need to know to set up your drive for different controllers. It will probably link you to a free,downloadable,product specific utility program, and instructions on how to use & configure it on a floppy. When your mobo arrives, read the manual cover to cover to familiarize yourself with it. The cable you want for ata66 or 100 drives is called an "ultra ata 66-eighty conductor cable" or something similar, in any case, it will have a blue plug on the mobo end. this is the tipoff that you have the right cable. When you actually have all the parts and info,everything should come together. Do your homework, be patient.

 

[RSI]

I am anxious to see your results for ATA100.. it should technically be a nice step up from ATA66 - but you never know how it will go. So let us know... I'm gonna laugh if it turns out to be only a tiiiiiiiiiny bit faster

 

[genova]

Thanks for all the help. Well, according to the picture, I'm buying the ATA100 version (4 ide slots available). Btw, how do you test your HD speed?