Will this cable work with my HD?

Hello,



I have a SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.10, 250GB, ULTRA ATA/100 (ST3250620A) desktop hard drive. The manual says that an 80 conductor ULTRA ATA cable should be used with it.



I do not know too much about computers and I have not read the manual until 5 minutes ago. I just bought a cable at best buy this afternoon. I had no idea that there are different kind of cables for different hard drive types. The cable I bought is an ULTRA ATA 100 ROUND CABLE (DX-C101861)



Would my hard drive work with this cable? If yes, what are the disadvantages using this cable rather than the 80 conductor ULTRA ATA cable.



Thanks,

Herringtrader

There shouldn't be any difference between the two cables besides physical appearance.

The cable you bought at best is a standard ATA100/133 capable cable round instead of being the typical flat grey coloer cable used on EIDE type drives. A sata drive uses a different type of 7pin cable that is much thinner then the average ide round even. Those are seen when you open the box for a new mother board usually red in color. The actual qualiry of the cable itself depends on the manufacturer while it still has to meet the standards for this type of drive.

A brief introduction and set of instructions for using ide cables can seen at http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/...ct_ide_hd.html

To add a second hard drive later at some point, http://compreviews.about.com/od/tuto...DIYSecHD_6.htm

The ide cables sold in stores at this time are all 80pin/80conductor cables. No one uses the older 40pin cables since the newer cables can still be used on older ATA66 systems. The image here shows what the ends on a typical sata type cable look like.