Difference between SATA and PATA

[Gawain]

I'm thinking of building a new PC - but I'm not sure what the difference between a PATA and a SATA hard drive is, for example I was looking at the Seagate Barracuda drives, and there is both a SATA and a PATA 250GB version, the SATA one is £5 more.

Is there any difference with the way that you connect these drives up? Is one version more complicated to install than the other?

Many thanks

[Black Hawk]

Sata is the newest and fastest technology available, and is connected by very thin cables. Whereas Pata is the old way of doing things, and connects via big bulky ribbon cables.

You should check your motherboard to see which technology it supports.

[Incinerate_IV]

Go SATA, most motherboards nowadays only come with 1 PATA slot, and you need that for CD/DVD drives.