PATA Hard drive question

Jesse714

Jesse714

Tech In Training
Whats the difference between a PATA hard drive and an ATA hard drive?

I bought one of ebay for my 15" Powerbook, i got it today, and it doesn't work lol. But the post clearly says, will work with all ibook's, and Powerbooks, So im not sure if it's the right kind of drive. The HD i ordered is on route for a replacement, so hopefully it was just a defective drive.

Thanks ahead for any help.

:)
 
"PATA" stands for "Parallel ATA." "Parallel" describes the type of connection to the motherboard that the drive uses. Contrast this with "SATA," which is "Serial ATA."

"ATA" doesn't signify what kind of connection it uses. More than likely, it's PATA, but you would be well advised to contact whomever is selling the drive and find out for sure.
 
Jesse714 said:
I bought one of ebay for my 15" Powerbook, i got it today, and it doesn't work lol.
Click to expand...

What do you mean it doesn't work? Did disk utility see it? You would be able to tell if it was PATA/SATA because the flex cable wouldn't even match to the drive. If you were able to plug it in, it was the right kind of drive.
 
The disc drive doesn't spin at all, and it wasn't warm when i took it back out. That answered my question though, thank you.
I booted from my install disc, and it wasn't there in disc utility, i shut down, took the drive out, took my connector back off, and put it back on, made sure that there was a firm connection to the board, and retried. It still didn't work, so then i decided to try it in my brother's 12" Powerbook, and that failed us too.

But its okay, im getting a replacement, but i don't know what im going to do if this one doesn't work either.

:)
 
I've never installed a hard drive in the older G4-based PowerBooks, but be aware that every hard drive requires two connections: the ATA cable, and a power cable.

If you've only connected the ATA cable, that could explain why the drive does not spin up or get warm -- it's not running at all, because it's got no power.

Many laptops these days integrate the power cable alongside the ATA cable, such that all you have to do is plug in one cable to the hard drive (which is really just two cables bonded side-by-side) and you're off to the races... older laptops, like the PowerBook, may not have this.

I also remember that Mac laptops use very fine and precise ribbon cables for the hard drives -- these cables are easy to mangle, bend, fold and/or tear. If there is damage to the delicate cable, then that could also prevent the hard drive from spinning up.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
I've never installed a hard drive in the older G4-based PowerBooks, but be aware that every hard drive requires two connections: the ATA cable, and a power cable.
....
I also remember that Mac laptops use very fine and precise ribbon cables for the hard drives -- these cables are easy to mangle, bend, fold and/or tear. If there is damage to the delicate cable, then that could also prevent the hard drive from spinning up.
Click to expand...
Not quite accurate, EDCC. The IDE (PATA) laptop drives get all data and power through the ribbon cable only. There is no separate power connector for those drives.
You certainly are correct about those ribbon cables being fragile.
It did not work in a second laptop, so I would suspect bad hard drive more than the ribbon cable.

Was that hard drive from eBay sold as reconditioned, or used?
If yes, I think you can see the risks with purchasing a used hard drive.
 
Its a one cable deal, i've made sure, because i still have the old drive, and the connections look exactly the same, It would make sense if the ribbon cable was broken, but like i said, i tried it in two powerbook's just to be sure i didn't need a new hard drive ribbon. When i had my brothers 12" apart, i grabbed the hard drive out of it, and install that, and it boots up just fine with his, it also looks the same. The lady is being cool about it, im off to bring it down to the post office and send it off.

I really really like the backlit keyboard, i snapped a quick photo just to show some people that haven't seen what it looks like in the dark :)

Backlit.jpg
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...TRK:MEWNX:IT&item=390063870772#ht_2460wt_1167

Its brand new, it has huge letters on the picture.

Its a samsung model, the posting says ibook, but if you scroll down a tad, it says all powerbook models.

Powerbook G3 (Lombard, Wallstreet, Pismo)
Powerbook G4 (All Models)
IBook (All Models)

So being a broken used factor isn't an issue, They are going to replace it though, so im not too worried about it, besides the fact that i have to wait another 3-4 days to get it :/
 
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