how to tell if motherboard is SATA or IDE friendly?

[niel]

On Tuesday 11 December 2007 17.29.48 Willis wrote:
> norman wrote:
> > < snip >
> >
> >> Look at your mother board and look at the wire connecting the hdd to the
> >> board.  If you have a 40 pin connector, about an inch and a half long.
> >> it is an ide and if it is a small connector, about a half inch in
> >> length, it is sata.  Hope that helps.
> >
> > I trust you meant inch and half wide and not long. Similarly for the
> > SATA cable.
> >
> > Norman
>
> Sorry about that, it is about an inch and a half by i/4 inch and perhaps
> 5/16 deep and will have a 40 wire ribbon wire if ide and it is usually a
> round wire with much smaller plugs if sata.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA