what's the differance between ATA 33/66/100/133?


Recommended Posts

Well, the difference is quite literally the speed at which the hard drive can read or write data, i.e. the theoretical maximum transfer speed in MB per second. Most parallel ATA hard drives made in the last couple of years are either going to be ATA100 or ATA133. Older drives may use ATA66, or really old drives (those in the sizes under 5 GB) may even be ATA33. For ATA100 and ATA133 drives, you have to make sure they are connected to the motherboard using an 80-wire IDE cable. For older hard drives (ATA33 and ATA66), Zip drives, and optical disc drives (CD and DVD drives), you can use the older 40-wire IDE cable.

To find out which speed the hard drive uses, look at the hard drive itself. It is often labled right on the drive. If not, note the model number on the drive, go to the drive manufacturer's website, and enter it there to find out the specs of the drive.

It's the maximum it can transfer, but you'll never see it sustained. I have a harddrive running ATA 100, and I've seen my max random burst speed hit 80 MB/s, but you'll get around 40-50 MB/s sustained from what I've seen.

As for Hawkeye, ATA66 also requires the 80 wire cable. :)

And for part two, parallel ATA uses a wide cable connector, where-as serial is very small.

most of maxtor hdd are ata133, while wd hdd are only ata100. does that mean maxtor drive are faster? the gb is and price is about the same. another question, are all ata 100/133 known as ata ULTRA 100/133?

Not really, like I said, you'll never see 100, so don't bother, plus the motherboard/IDE controller must support 133, things to pay attention to are seek time, RPMs, and cache size.

And yes, ata,ultra ata/DMA mode, is the same.

Zip drives, and optical disk drives (CD and DVD drives), you can use the older 40-wire IDE cable.

You may find that using an 80 pin cable on your Optical Drives will allow them to run at UDMA Mode 2 not just Multi-word DMA :p !

the speed indicated by the 100/133 is MegaBytes Per Second

Really 66 is still Pretty much Enough since if only 1 hard disk is on the cable it will never keep a sustained 50 megs/sec transfer speed. they arent fast enough yet.

but 100 is better if you have 2 HD's on the cable.

133 is useless and only 1 HD manufacturer is using it :rofl:

Zip drives, and optical disk drives (CD and DVD drives), you can use the older 40-wire IDE cable.

You may find that using an 80 pin cable on your Optical Drives will allow them to run at UDMA Mode 2 not just Multi-word DMA :p !

the speed indicated by the 100/133 is MegaBytes Per Second

Really 66 is still Pretty much Enough since if only 1 hard disk is on the cable it will never keep a sustained 50 megs/sec transfer speed. they arent fast enough yet.

but 100 is better if you have 2 HD's on the cable.

133 is useless and only 1 HD manufacturer is using it :rofl:

Actually, both Maxtor and IBM (now Hitachi) use hard drives that support ATA133. My friend just got a new PC with two IBM 180 GB hard drives, and they use ATA 133. ;)

And what about CD-Writers. I have a SONY which is ATA33. What good is that then ??? and how does it then work at 48x ????

you'll never see a Cd-drive faster than ATA33, cause 1x for CDs is 150 KBps. Now the fastest CD-ROM/RW's are at 52x, which is 7,800 KBps, nowhere near 33 MBps

Any drive that ISNT a harddrive uses ATAPI (advanced transfer something packet interface or something like that) but the spec only supports up to 20mbps or something around that...

It is true, however, that if you put your dvd drives or cd writers on a 40pin ide ribbon instead of an 80pin one they wont be able to get up past DMA2

ATA66 and above is also called "ultra-ATA" l77Il7H

ATA133 is only supported by Maxtor (i remember some other manufacturer tried a while ago but they had too many problems) and probably will only be supported by maxtor because serial ATA has everyone's attentnion now...rightly so, everything else is serialized now, i dunno why they waited so long...

SATA currently runs at ata150 but the groundwork is laid down for sata300, 450, and 900 i heard somewhere...which i think is obscene and we wont be seeing (or using) until we're all running 128bit processors and tarrabyte drives but hey ;) it sure would impress your friends though ;)

Yeah from what i remember its a IBM marketing Hype ! .. dang fangled 133 !

I think it was Maxtor that had the ATA133 first... IBM/Hitachi only recently introduced it. But I guess this goes back to the IDE marketing again. There is EIDE (Western Digital/Maxor) and there there is FastATA (Seagate/Quantum).

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Zoom Workplace 7.1.0.41345 by Razvan Serea Zoom Workplace for Windows is a reliable video conferencing tool that makes it easy to connect and collaborate. With features like messaging, file sharing, and app integrations, it’s designed to streamline teamwork. You’ll get high-quality audio and video, strong security with end-to-end encryption, and an intuitive interface—all of which help remote teams and businesses stay productive and connected. Zoom Workplace key features: High-Definition Video & Audio: Provides clear, reliable communication for virtual meetings. End-to-End Encryption: Ensures secure communication with strong data protection. Multi-Factor Authentication: Adds an extra layer of security for user accounts. Integration with Productivity Apps: Supports seamless integration with Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and more. File Sharing: Easily share files during meetings for efficient collaboration. Real-Time Messaging: Enables team chat for ongoing communication. Collaborative Whiteboarding: Allows teams to brainstorm and collaborate visually. Webinar Support: Host large webinars with interactive features. Administrative Controls: Manage user permissions, meeting settings, and security features. Cloud Storage: Automatically stores meetings and files in the cloud for easy access. Cross-Platform Support: Available on Windows, macOS, and mobile devices. Meeting features: Virtual Backgrounds: Customize your background for meetings to maintain privacy or enhance professionalism. Touch Up My Appearance: Automatically smoothens skin tone for a more polished video appearance. Breakout Rooms: Divide meetings into smaller sessions for group discussions or workshops. Live Transcription: Automatically generate real-time captions during meetings for accessibility. Zoom Apps: Integrate third-party applications directly into Zoom for enhanced functionality. Meeting Reactions: Participants can use emojis for quick, non-verbal feedback during meetings. Polling: Conduct live polls during meetings to gather instant feedback from participants. Attention Tracking: Monitors participant attention during meetings to ensure engagement. Closed Captioning: Enable manual or automatic captions for a more inclusive experience. Webinar Replay: Record and share webinars with analytics for audience engagement. Download: Zoom 64-bit | 145.0 MB (Free, paid upgrade available) Links: Zoom Website | Zoom ARM64 | Zoom Installers | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • UK funds £60M AI labs to challenge US tech dominance with open-source models by Paul Hill The UK government has awarded £60 million to Oxford University and University College London to help keep the country in the AI race by focusing on open-source, low-hardware alternatives. This is in stark contrast to the expensive, closed-source, and high-hardware-requirement models being created in the United States and elsewhere. The money will be shared among two new academic research labs over six years to help them redesign the fundamental mathematics and architectures of AI to help the UK reduce its reliance on a handful of US tech firms. Commenting on the development, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: Initially, the government planned to fund just one lab with a £40 million investment, but with this update, two labs will now get access to a larger pool of funds. The labs are expected to invest in the top AI researchers at every career stage, with £2 million per lab being set aside for hiring at least ten doctoral students. The government hopes that this will grow the UK’s talent in the field of AI. The labs are also expected to work closely with the leaders in British AI research, such as the Alan Turing Institute and UKRI’s AI research hubs. This will allow the various teams to collaborate and create new solutions faster than they could alone. This development is pretty interesting for a number of reasons, chiefly that it could create a long-term challenge for US tech firms if these labs successfully scale these open-source architectures that bypass the proprietary ecosystems. It could also give British businesses and public sector organizations access to AI features without paying high licensing fees to foreign providers or needing to invest in specialized server infrastructure.
    • If I were them, I'm gonna hold out until the prices of these semiconductor parts normalize. $1,049 for a ~5 year old hardware is DoA, more so for gamers. On a deeper note, if Steam Machine is priced like this, we are soo effed up for the next gen Xbox console and PS6. With great AAA titles releasing at the end of the year, this just creates more demand...and more tears for me. Lol.
    • I suspect one reason its hard to justify subsidising is that it's not a locked down device like a traditional console is. In this climate sadly if it was a "good deal" you'd get people hoarding them for anything but gaming. The Lenovo Legion Go 2 with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme is £1300 here ($1720) for some context on how other SteamOS like devices are now priced. I got the older Z1 Extreme model for £300 with a dock, just shows how insane prices have got recently.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      nates earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Almohandis earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      dorf went up a rank
      Rookie
    • First Post
      mike_rumble earned a badge
      First Post
    • Dedicated
      tuben earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      460
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      180
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      92
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      88
    5. 5
      neufuse
      70
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!