IDE is the same as ATA (confusingly enough), and they were by far the most common type for many years. SATA stands for Serial ATA, and it's been getting more common recently.

The quick way to tell the difference is that IDE uses a ribbon cable about 2" wide, while SATA has a little skinny cable that doesn't take up half the room in your case.

(edit: I should totally leave these questions to Scola and get back to my steenkin' homework.)

IDE vs SATA

Oooh, I think I totally have IDE, then, because it has those huuuuuge cables. I'll open up the computer to make sure, but I have a little thing that lets me connect five drives to the motherboard instead of the usual four, and it's all about those ribbon cables. Unless one of those devices would be able to take IDE and SATA cables.

SATA stands for Serial ATA, and it's been getting more common recently.

Well, not in the external enclosure field!

SA,

that's an interesting notion! Only problem, I like to use my computer while watching tv! I can't think of how I can be mobile and stream data from my computer. Am I missing something?

Well, not in the external enclosure field!

Ah, but the external enclosure field is all about the "I have this old drive sitting around doing nothing" market. I'd expect SATA to be a bigger share of the offerings in another year or two.

My drive was bought in 2003. Pretty sure it's IDE.

Only problem, I like to use my computer while watching tv! I can't think of how I can be mobile and stream data from my computer. Am I missing something?

Well, it wouldn't matter if you had the dvd player. You'd still have to just use the computer for playing the video file. If you want to do two things at once you might as well just watch it on the computer anyway.

OK, I called Tivo, and my Tivo is officially dead. And, since I'm past the warranty coverage, it's $129 to replace it. But, if I replace it through them that way, rather than going to the store and buying a new one, my lifetime subscription will still count. So I'm doing that. (My old one is a 40-hour Series 2, which they don't make any more. I wonder if the new one they send me will be a 40-hour that they still have around for replacing peoples broken ones, or if they'll just send me an 80-hour one.)

since I'm past the warranty coverage, it's $129 to replace it. But, if I replace it through them that way, rather than going to the store and buying a new one, my lifetime subscription will still count. So I'm doing that.

I didn't know TiVo did that. That's very kind of them. Really (I'm not being sarcastic)! I thought the "lifetime" sub died with the machine.

I thought the "lifetime" sub died with the machine.

So did I. I was figuring that I'd have to buy a new one and start paying for the service. The $129 is more expensive than even the cheapest new one, but with not having to pay the service fees, it pays off within a few months.

Well, hell. This can't be right. Hard drive experts, what's going on here?

Out of my hard drive comes a SATA splitter but a closer look reveals extra pins and a ribbon. The ribbon seems to be threaded through all five drives, out of which come that SATA splitter. Even my original hard drive, which came with my computer in 1999. I'm getting confused.