What markings show that IDE ATA cables are ATA 100 ?

[Ken20]

What markings show that IDE ATA cables are ATA 100 ?
Last year I bought the Iwill KK266, and I assume that the IDE cables that came in the retail box are ATA 100 (or 133) speed.

How does one determine, by looking at the cable that it is ATA 100 (or 133) speed, rather than 66 or 33 ?

Thanks

 

[Jonathan93]

ATA 33 uses a 40 wire cable.... ATA 66/100/133 uses an 80 wire cable.. If you have two side by side, it is obvious which is which.... If I had a scanner... I'd scan them so you can see the difference. Most ATA 66/100/133 Cables have a blue end, whereas the ATA 33 usually have all black ends (Not sure if they are always like this)... The ends are the same size though.

 

[RNG]

The 80 wire are very tiny wires compared to the 40 wire

 

[MrTux]

Not trying to be critical, but neither of those posts really answer his question. I'm not sure if there are any foolproof ways to distinguish an ATA66 cable from an ATA100 cable. From what I can recall, none of the cables I have owned had clear markings that said they were ATA 33/66/100/133.

 

[Ken20]

Would the Iwill 266 likely have included an ATA 100 cable as the cable included in the box ? I suspect not, so as to save themselves the cost. There is no marking on the box that indicates which rating of cable is what they have included.

The cable does not seem to have a blue end to it, so that also points to a reduced likelihood.

So, the only way to determine is to trust the vendor ?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

<< What markings show that IDE ATA cables are ATA 100 ?
Last year I bought the Iwill KK266, and I assume that the IDE cables that came in the retail box are ATA 100 (or 133) speed.

How does one determine, by looking at the cable that it is ATA 100 (or 133) speed, rather than 66 or 33 ?

Thanks >>

I dunno,,,but the cables that came w/ my kk266 were ATA100 speced. Ran a 20GB 7200rpm ATA100 rated Maxtor seemed pretty quick..but the I bought the (Quantum like) ATA133 speced Maxtor 20GB 740XL and I noticed a definite pickup at initial start of seek and programs seemed a little quicker(no did not do HDTach or any other progs ). I do know if you put the old style 40pin cables on a harddrive=suck

 

[Ken20]

Scrap Silicon - do your ATA 100 cables have any written markings / an or verbiage on the cable, itself ? And, importantly, is there a blue connector on the system end ?

 

[Jonathan93]

My brother has a scanner and the cables, so I scanned them for you.... ATA 33 is on the left, ATA 66/100/133 is on the right... Notice the wires in the ribbon on the left are much bigger than the one on the right.

IDECables Picture (100K)

 

[ScrapSilicon]

tagged by iwill blue end System...gray in the middle Slave ...black end Master..all say VSO..? my original one has imprint ATA66...my second iwill kk266 mobo(got in Nov 2k1) cable says all the above except cable has ATA100 imprint...but I saw no difference between the two(swapped back and forth numerous times..I believe if cable is ATA66 its also ATA 100/133 capable)

 

[HappyPuppy]

I understand that you want markings to reassure you that you have an ATA100 cable, but you don't need them. If your cable has 80 wires it is ATA100.

 

[Jonathan93]

<< I believe if cable is ATA66 its also ATA 100/133 capable) >>



Yup... You are right

 

[Ken20]

Thanks, all. This is very helpful. I may have gotten an Iwill 266 box without the ATA 100 cable. 'Just need to go buy one. Now I see exactly what I will look for. My understanding that the rounded cables, while rather futuristic looking, don't actually benefit one that much, so I will go with the less expensive flat ones.

Thanks again,

Ken