Installing SATA, PATA, and SCSI Drives
Serial ATA (SATA) drives are now the industry standard. SATA hard disks are hot swappable when the host adapter is configured in the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) mode. Before
the system can detect a SATA drive (hard disk or optical drive), the SATA host adapter must be enabled in the BIOS. A SATA host adapter can be converted into an eSATA port by connecting an eSATA header cable to an unused SATA host adapter. The header cable fastens to the rear of the computer with a bracket similar to that used by an adapter card. Figure 1-11 illustrates an eSATA header cable that connects to an SATA port.
Figure 1-11 A dual-port eSATA bracket.
If the system does not include SATA host adapters, a SATA adapter card can be installed into a PCI or PCIe slot to provide SATA ports. Some SATA adapter cards also include eSATA ports.
To install a SATA drive, just plug it into a SATA host adapter or eSATA header cable or adapter card and make sure that the host adapter is enabled in the BIOS.
26 CompTIA A+ Quick Reference
Parallel ATA (PATA) is more complicated. The BIOS manages PATA configurations. There are typically two PATA channels: primary and secondary. Each channel can contain two drives: master and slave. The master/slave or cable select (CS) settings must also be set by jumpers on the drives. Typically, CS requires the use of an 80-wire PATA cable with a black connector at one end, a blue connector at the other end, and a gray connector in the middle. The blue connector is used for the PATA host adapter on the motherboard and the black and gray connectors for hard disks. Both drives must be jumpered as CS. The drive connected to the black connector is primary, and the drive connected to the gray connector is secondary. Standard 40-wire PATA cables do not support CS (although a few older systems might include proprietary 40-pin CS cables). Note that 80-wire cables are also required for use with drives that run at Ultra ATA 66-100-133 speeds (66MHz, 100MHz, 133MHz).
Figure 1-12 compares the power and data connectors used by SATA and PATA desktop hard disks. (The same connectors are also used by SATA and PATA optical and other drive types.)
1. SATA
2. Power connector
3. Data connector
4. Jumper block
5. PATA
Figure 1-12 SATA and PATA connector comparison.
Figure 1-13 compares SATA, 80-wire PATA, and 40-wire PATA cables.
Note that, in some cases, in both 80- and 40-pin PATA environments, CS jumper settings simply do not work. In such cases, just set the jumpers to reflect the master on the end and slave in the middle (some drives also use a single-drive jumper setting if there’s only one drive on the cable). If you still have no luck, you might have an HDD failure or PATA host adapter failure. Any given PATA drive (HDD or optical) has one of the assignments shown in Tables 1-10 or 1-11.
Chapter 1: Hardware 27
Figure 1-13 SATA (left), PATA 80-wire (center), and PATA 40-wire (right) cables.