PATA, SATA drives, what's the deal here ?

[marcos]

I understand that the thinkpads are now using SATA drives. Since I'm not familiar anymore with PC hardware, I have a couple of questions... Aren't SATA the drives with a smaller cable, often bright colored ?
Which thinkpads are using them, and how ?

[rkawakami]

PATA=Parallel ATA. Large, wide, ribbon cable. Transfers data over many different wires.

SATA=Serial ATA. Small, thin, cable. Transfers data over a couple of wires.

About the only place I know where you can get information about many different current Thinkpads in one document is:

tabook.pdf

Older systems are covered in this document:

tawbook.pdf

[marcos]

Ok, my understanding is that only newer T60, Z60, X60 actually use SATA drives.
For all the others, the support is limited the intel chipset that has, and no physical SATA disk can be connected - maybe with a docking station ?
Hence is there now a different 2nd HDD adapter for SATA drives ?

[rkawakami]

Hence is there now a different 2nd HDD adapter for SATA drives ?

A simple Yahoo! search using "ibm sata adapter ultrabay" yielded this (among others):

http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/467614/rss

The part number referenced in the story, 40Y8725, also finds hits in a search engine.

[christopher_wolf]

There are some exceptions; models like the T43, R52 (shares the same mobo as the T43), and the X41/Tablet use PATA drives but with SATA controllers and a SATA-PATA crossover bridge.

For the T60, if I remember correctly, they can take the older 2nd HDD adapters which would handle PATA drives as well as the newer ones which can take SATA drives as well. More than just a tad confusing when first come upon. There are some threads about it in the T60 forum.

[GomJabbar]

You can also get a wealth of information from the following site.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

[tomh009]

A simple Yahoo! search using "ibm sata adapter ultrabay" yielded this (among others):

http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/467614/rss

The part number referenced in the story, 40Y8725, also finds hits in a search engine.

But, in the end, why bother? The underlying drive mechanics and electronics are identical, with the interface the only difference -- and hence they also have identical performance. So if you are buying a new drive, just buy one with the interface that matches the one on your ThinkPad.