Tag Archives: SATA

Q. What is the difference between NVME, M.2 and SATA?

Posted on December 22, 2019 by quill

A. M.2 (formerly known as NGFF) is a standard for a computer expansion card socket, and the cards that can go into it. M.2 – Wikipedia M.2 cards are named after their size: the most popular is M.2 2280 – 22 … Continue reading →

Posted in General Computer, Hard Drives and SSD, Q&A | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is the state of Thunderbolt drives? (October 2014 edition)

Posted on October 17, 2014 by quill

Thunderbolt drive news (Note 4/2020, many of the products introduced in 2014 are now out of date in 2020) Apple has left Firewire and adopted Thunderbolt as their recommended high speed connection for external hard drives (and monitors and other … Continue reading →

Posted in Hard Drive News, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, News, Performance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. Where did OCZ Technologies go? What happens to my warranty?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by quill

OCZ Technologies (OCZ Technology Group) was a leading edge producer of performance computer products – at first RAM memory and power supplies for gaming and overclocking, then they took on SSD solid state drives and abandoned the RAM and power supply … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drive News, Hard Drives and SSD | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Installing hard drives in an Apple iMac

Posted on August 14, 2012 by quill

Note: Installing hard drives in an iMac requires disassembling the machine and should be attempted only if you have experience. If you are not confident, please refer the work to a competent technician. Intel iMacs  require the glass LCD screen … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. How do I upgrade the hard drive in a Windows laptop?

Posted on June 30, 2012 by quill

Most modern notebook machines have hard drives that can be replaced with a larger, faster 2.5″ SATA hard drive or upgraded to a 2.5″ SATA Solid State (SSD) flash drive. Older notebooks may have 2.5″ IDE (Parallel ATA) hard drives, they can still … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. Can I replace the drive in my 2012 or earlier MacBook / MacBook Pro?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by quill

The MacBook and MacBook Pro Mid 2012 and earlier models (excluding all MacBook Airs and the Late 2012 and later Retina MacBook Pro) have hard drives that can be replaced with a larger, faster 2.5″ SATA hard drive or upgraded … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. How do I install a 3TB or larger hard drive?

Posted on May 18, 2012 by quill

The largest new desktop SATA hard drives on the market have capacities of 3 TB and 4 TB. This is great for storage, not so great for older machines because it goes beyond what SATA interfaces on older (mid 2011 … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Q. What memory and hard drives fit Macintosh computers?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by quill

Different models of Apple Macintosh machines take different types and capacities of RAM memory and hard drives.  We’ve put together charts of all of the models of Macs since 1998 that list the RAM requirements and the hard drive types … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions, Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Q. What Memory and Drives fit my iMac Intel?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by quill

Apple has released a variety of iMac intel machines, which have used four different kinds of RAM. Different models of iMac have had either two RAM sockets or four RAM sockets. In iMacs, installing a single RAM is permissible, however … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions, Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Q. What memory and drives fit my Mac Mini?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by quill

Apple Mac Mini models have gone through several design changes over the years. They have become slimmer, and recently Apple has dropped the Optical drive from the while Mini model line (which they had earlier done with the Server configurations). … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions, Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. What Memory and Drives fit my MacBook Pro?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by quill

Apple MacBook Pro machines feature Intel processors and an Aluminum body Following is a chronological chart of all of the MacBook Pro models, the types of RAM and hard drives that can be installed. Newest machines are at the bottom. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions, Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. What is the difference between SATA and PATA?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by quill

Serial ATA (SATA) and Parallel ATA (PATA) are two different (and incompatible) connection standards for hard drives, optical drives and other storage media. PATA is also called IDE, EIDE, ATA-5, ATA-6 and UltraATA. It uses a 40 pin (desktop) or … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, General Computer, Hard Drives and SSD | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

iMac 2011 models, the end of upgrading?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Apple has thrown a curve ball at iMac owners with the latest 2011 “Thunderbolt” models.  The 2011 models use pins on the SATA power connector to transmit SMART temperature information from the drive to the iMac motherboard (previously, the temperature … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, News | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. My external hard drive won’t mount

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

Try replugging the cables and connections first before concluding that it has failed – half of all ‘failures’ are problems with connections.  Or shut down the machine, turn off the hard drive. Now turn on the hard drive first, let … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. Will my Intel d945gcl motherboard work with a Seagate 1 TB SATA hard drive?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Trevor

Yes, as long as a motherboard has a SATA connector it will support any SATA drive up to 2 TB. Here are the support documents on this motherboard www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/dsktpboards/d945gcl Your board has ” Four SerialATA (SATA) channels (3.0Gb/s),via the ICH7, … Continue reading →

Posted in Hard Drives and SSD, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment