The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Do EIDE HDDs work with PATA systems?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by londez, Jun 10, 2009.

  1. londez

    londez Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    114
    Messages:
    602
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Last time I upgraded my HDD, my user's manual for my laptop told me I needed a PATA HDD. I wanted to get a new HDD and when I called Best Buy to see if they had any PATAs in stock, they told me that the EIDE HDDs would work with systems that use PATA. This didn't sound right to me, but I talked to three different people in the computer department and they all said that this was correct. I installed it, my brother formatted it for me, and when we went to install windows, the bios said that it was incompatible.

    Is there something wrong here, or were the people at best buy wrong about EIDE?
     
    londez, Jun 10, 2009
    #1
  2. riahc3

    riahc3 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    31
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIDE

    Just so you know, yes there is something wrong there.
     
    riahc3, Jun 10, 2009
    #2
  3. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

    Reputations:
    2,275
    Messages:
    3,990
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    something is wrong, but it is not the guys at Best Buy.

    You're confusing the interface and the communication method

    There are two ways drives communicate--parallel (PATA) and serial (SATA)

    Of the parallel or PATA drives, eide drives are enhanced for better performance. All PATA drives for the past 10 years or so have been EIDE
     
    gerryf19, Jun 10, 2009
    #3
  4. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    4,127
    Messages:
    7,860
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    0
    EIDE=PATA. The fastest of the lot being the HM160HC, WD2500BEVE and WD3200BEVE.

    There is another way to do a drive upgrade. If you're happy to give up the optical drive can install a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD via an optical bay adapter. The adapter can be had for as little as $17US. Latest batch of 250GB-per-platter SATA HDDs offering more performance, better value for money and can be transplanted into a newer SATA-equipped system in the future. You probably have a ICH2 or newer chipset capable of transfers of 87MB/s, which only the latest 7200rpm 2.5" SATA HDDs start having performance capping on streaming operations.

    If interested, consider browsing the DIY: Adding SSD and/or HDD storage using an optical bay caddy thread.
     
    User Retired 2, Jun 10, 2009
    #4
  5. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

    Reputations:
    4,412
    Messages:
    8,077
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    205
    What do you mean by the system saying the drive was not compatible?

    Does your system Blue Screen or refuse to load after the windows installation?

    What drive in particular did you get?

    If you are able to format the drive than the drive is compatible with your laptop. The windows installation may have installed unsuccessfully, causing your problems

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Jun 10, 2009
    #5
  6. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,038
    Messages:
    3,071
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    105
    What capacity is the drive you're upgrading? Does your laptop support 48bit addressing?
     
    jackluo923, Jun 10, 2009
    #6