What type of IDE controller do I have.

[rodney59]

I want to upgrade my old 1.4Ghz, 512Mb IBM 300PL PC's hard disk. Its currently a 13.6Gb Maxtor, but looking around it appears to I need to know if its an ATA/100 /166 etc.

Are they any utility programs that will tell the interface that I have?

IBM website does not seem to cover the "6862n40" (their part code number) any more.

[ErnestM]

Did you try looking into device manager? Check out the drivers for your IDE controller. Usually that will give you a hint...

For instance, mine is a:
Intel 6300ESB Ultra ATA Storage Controller

If it's a SATA controller, you may have to look under SCSI if it is a RAID controller...


ErnestM

[Plotloss]

It will be ATA100/133 at the very very best.

Probably ATA100 maybe ATA66

[arcturus]

Go to the Lavalys website and download Everest Home Edition. Run it and it will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the innards of your PC and more, including the IDE interface.

[rodney59]

Many thanks for that arcturus.
It lists it as a 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller. Googling and Intel I still cannot find out if its a ata/33/66/100. The hard disk in there is reported as a ATA/33 though. To upgrade the HD say to 60gb I need better than this?

[anonymous-user]

AFAIK, all IDE drives are back compatible so it doesn't actually matter. If you're controller is ATA66 and you buy an ATA133 drive, it'll just run at 66Mhz(?).

I'd wait until someone who know's what they're talking about confirms this before rushing out to buy one though.

[Zod]

as long as it is not onw of the newer Serial ATA (SATA) controllers and the motherboard is from the last decade, it will be compatible with any non-SATA, non-SCSI 3.5" hard drive. ATA 133,100,66,33 and the earlier PIO standards should all work. You will need an 80-wire cable for a hard drive of ATA 66 or above, assuming the motherboard is ATA 66 or above (any motherboard from 1999 or so will be).

[pdV6]

rodney59 said:

Many thanks for that arcturus. It lists it as a 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller. Googling and Intel I still cannot find out if its a ata/33/66/100. The hard disk in there is reported as a ATA/33 though. To upgrade the HD say to 60gb I need better than this?

As far as I can see (from Google!), that chipset only supports up to ATA/33.

You don't need to upgrade the controller in order to run a more modern disk (i.e. > 33), but an add-on card ought to be pretty cheap and will make a hell of a difference to the overall speed of your system once the new disk's running through it. In fact, you could even go the whole hog and get a SATA controller card if you wanted...

e.g.

ATA/133 controller card for £15
SATA controller for £30

[ErnestM]

82371AB/EB is an intel Pentium II/Celeron controller chip used for (among other things) the old 440 boards. IIRC, they topped out at 33. I would also suggest either an add in card or a new system. There will also be bottlenecks in the speed of the pci bus that will slow down the data path of data to and from the hard drives if you try to install a faster drive.

It would be an exercise in futility to try to keep the system going by installing a modern hard drive. I would save my pennies and do a complete upgrade. In addition to faster data access you will also get modern graphics and peripheral connectivity...

Just my 0.02

ErnestM

>> Edited by ErnestM on Tuesday 17th May 20:15