IDE / SATA Connectors

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) cable

Serial ATA (SATA) cable

These connectors are used to connect the hard disk drives and CD/DVD ROM drives to the motherboard. The Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) connector and the Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) connector are one and the same thing. They are also known as busses, (no, not the ones you wait ages for at a bus stop).

The IDE connector is becomjing replaced by the Serial ATA (SATA) connector which can tranjsfer data to and from the hard disk drive or CD/DVD ROM drive a lot more quickly than the IDE interface can.

Motherboards are incorporating both types of connectors so at the moment, DIY computer people can choose which they prefer but like all technologies, eventually IDE will be a thing of the past and SATA will be the norm until some other method of data transfer comes along.