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1. Why does my new drive or connector look different from my old
drive or connector?
The first thing you need to do is to determine if you bought the right
drive. There are now two standards for 2.5” laptop hard drives, Serial
ATA (SATA) and Parallel ATA (PATA). Check with your manufacturer
for the drive specifications and compare it to the specifications on the
drive you purchased. All SATA drive connectors should look exactly the
same. Use Apricorn’s hard drive configurator at www.apricorn.com to
make sure you are getting the correct drive for your laptop or notebook
computer.
The most frequent question about hard drive connectors involve PATA
hard drives. If your laptop uses a PATA hard drive, it may have a translation
board or adapter on the connector. All 2.5” laptop PATA hard drives use
the same type of connector (male 44 pins). Laptop manufacturers may
use a translation board or adapter to connect the drive to the computer.
This adapter can be removed and placed on the new drive. It will look
like it is actually part of the old drive, but it can be removed.
Removing the translation board or adapter
Take the old drive and turn it upside down so the board is face up and
the connector end is away from you, using your fingernail or fingertips,
work the one side of the connector up slightly and then the other. Be
patient you want to make gradual progress until you start to see the gold
pins (between the drive and the connector), at that point you can pull the
connector “straight” off the end of the pins. Once you have removed it,
you can then place it carefully onto the new drive in the same location.
Please note: there are 4 pins separated by 1 pin space and those 4 pins
will not be covered by the adapter or connector.
2. What is Serial ATA (SATA)?
Serial ATA is the next generation interface for the high-speed transfer
of data in PCs, workstations, and laptops. SATA allows an increase in
bandwidth from PATA’s 100 MBps to 150 MBps and higher down the
road. SATA cable connectors are much smaller than PATA connectors
and have no pins to be bent or broken. SATA connectors are more stable
and require very little pressure to attach the hard drive making them much
easier to use than PATA connectors. If your laptop requires a SATA hard
drive you must replace it with a SATA hard drive. Use Apricorn’s hard
drive configurator at www.apricorn.com to make sure you are getting the
correct drive for your laptop or notebook computer.
DriveWire FAQs
