answersLogoWhite

0

What is PATA?

User Avatar

Anonymous

16y ago
Updated: 8/16/2019

PATA stands for Parallel AT Attachement. It typically uses an 80-pin connector (ATA-5 cable) with 40 pins as the signals and the other 40 pins as grounds. Its also uses a 4-pin molex power connector. This drive is identical to the ATA IDE we used to rememeber, nothing changed other than the name. However, with the advent of the SATA drives, we needed change to avoid confusion. The things to rememebr is that PATA uses a wide flat parallel interface cable, 80-pins, 4-pin power cable, whereas, the SATA (Serial AT Attachement) uses a 7-pin interface connector, and a 15-pin power conector. The SATA drives are much faster, lower temperatures and lower voltages. The IDE in the drives are identical as well. It means Integrated Drive Electronics. This is the actual electronics within the drive to make it spin/control the read and write access times.

User Avatar

Wiki User

16y ago

What else can I help you with?