New hard drive - SATA or PATA?

Grateful for a bit of advice. I want to upgrade the hard drive on my 17" G4 PB 1.67gHz. I read somewhere that the new drive should be PATA or IDE, not SATA. Most new drives for sale seem to be SATA - there's much more choice, anyway, and SATA drives seem to go up to 320Gb. For example, I really like the sound of the 7,200rpm Western Digital Scorpio 320gb drive. The biggest IDE drive I can find for sale in the UK is 250Gb, again by Western Digital.
Is it true that a SATA drive won't work in a Powerbook G4?
Thanks

Hi, Steven. Yes, it's true. The largest drive you can install internally in any Powerbook is the 250GB 5400 RPM WD drive you've seen advertised.

Similar Messages

Is HP compaq nc6000 hard drive SATA or PATA

Is my HP compaq nc6000 hard drive a PATA or SATA?
Message Edited by RetiredNick on 01-26-2009 12:21 PM
This question was solved.
View Solution.

The NC6000 doesn't use a SATA hard drive, uses an IDE unit.
See this link to get an explanation about the differences between SATA and IDE's.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ultra-ata.htm
Best regards
Pavilion DV6500, Vista Home Premium 32bit Intel T7300 2.0 GHz, nVidia GForce 8400M GS, 2GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, Blu-Ray disc succesfully installed and running -- Please Post back your results, Resolved or Not - LEAVE KUDOS !

Need Help Quick Installing new Hard Drive

I have a MacBook Pro, an Intel Mac Mini, and a video iPod. I will be receiving a new 100GB 2.5- Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 7200RPM SATA Notebook Drive from FedEx today. What is the best way to go about not having to reinstall Mac OS & my applications, etc.?
I bought a 2.5 USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Kit from Best Buy, but it says it's for an ATA hard disk drive. I was hoping I could put the new drive in there & then use Carbon Copy Cloner. Then put the new drive into the MacBook. But am I right in thinking that the new hard drive (SATA) will not work in this ATA enclosure?
So, should I just do a full backup onto my iPod or Mac Mini, then install the new drive, install OS X, then do a restore?
Please help!

you cannot put the sata HD in that enclosure.
From what I'm thinking is you could buy a firewire sata enclosure (I don't know if there is one available), put the new drive in it, and install the system software to that drive, and when it comes to the window that offer you to migrate and transfer, select it and point that to your old HD, and it will transfer all of your files and hopefully all your apps as well.
Or either you back up your old MacBook HD to iPod using USB 2.0 or using back up to Mac Mini with firewire protocol using Target Drive Mode, then do the custom installation on your new HD in your MacBook.
After that you can pull the data back to your new HD.

Can't install(format?) new hard drive

I recently purchased a Wetern Digital Scorpio 250GB PATA HD for my Toshiba M35X-S114. This was the drive recommened on the Toshiba Laptop Accessories page. I physically instaled the new drive but can't figure out how to get it started. I used the System Recovery DVD for my computer thinking I could install the original software on the new hard drive. The guy on the tech support phoneline said I could. When I tried to use the recovery disc I got all the wall to the message where it prompts me to "press C for continue or A to abort". When I press C, the cursor moves right below the prompt and just blinks. The tech support line said the process may take several hours but I let it do this for for 3.5 hours and the cursor was still just blinking below the continue/abort message. Is this normal? Do I just need to be patient? When I used the recovery disk on the old, original hard drive my computer was completely recovered in 45 minutes. Oh, BIOS reads "none" next to hard disk. I hope this helps.

I emailed Hitachi support and got this response.
It works. Just a pain!!
Hard drives of SATA type interface does not have jumpers to configure. You
can still use a SATA 3.0Gb/s drive (set to 3.0Gb/s) in your system, but it
will only work at 1.5Gb/s.
If your have a PC system, you can temporarily install the drive internally
and use our utility called Feature Tool that'll allow you to change various
ATA settings. This utility has the diskette and CD version. If you do not
have a floppy drive and are unable to create a Feature Tool diskette, you
can select the Feature Tool CD image. The fourth download link is for the
image file. This file will allow you to create a bootable CD version of
Feature Tool when a floppy diskette drive is unavailable. For instructions
on how to properly use this file, please refer to the documentation
included with your CD burning software.
If you have any questions regarding the usage of Feature Tool, please refer
to the User's Guide (see page 17 on how to change the drive capacity). The
Feature Tool and User's Guide can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#FeatureTool
Before running Feature Tool, ensure that your system boot sequence (in your
system BIOS) is set to boot to your CD ROM drive as the first device.
Insert the bootable Feature Tool diskette or CD that you created and let
the system boot to this CD.

New hard drive does not get recognized by OS X server 10.6

Xserve disk utility does no see the new HD. It is not HD issue as I have tested drive in other carrier, switched drive in different bays, booted from Xserve 10.6 dvd and 10.6 Server image in our net boot. Drive is not seen by disk utility. Even put in an Apple original (Mac Pro) HD. We have verified that. memory, HDD carrier and HD Bay are not defective.

Thanks John for the reply. I tried different new hard drives as well as a HD from Mac Pro server.I did try drive in different bays. Other 2 drives in the Xserve are recognized in all bays.I even switced HD carrier. Nothing seems to work. I found the following notes in the Xserve manual. I could not fully understand that. May be you can help me understand this.
Xserve (Late 2006) includes three hard drive bays on the front panel. Hard drives come as
modules, known as Apple drive modules (ADMs), attached to carriers; they are removed from or
installed in the Xserve as a unit. ADMs have been available from Apple in various capacities for
all Xserve and Xserve RAID models, and in multiple interface types. Xserve G4 and Xserve RAID
use parallel ATA (PATA) ADMs, and Xserve G5 uses serial ATA (SATA) ADMs. Xserve (Late 2006) can
use SATA ADMs, and ADMs with a new, third interface type known as serial attached SCSI (SAS).
It is important to understand ADM forward compatibility and backward compatibility with older
Xserve models, since some combinations of ADM and Xserve or RAID work properly while other
combinations do not. The following table summarizes this compatibility.
Xserve G4 Xserve RAID Xserve G5 Xserve
(Late 2006)
Xserve (Early
2008)

Advice about buying a new hard drive

I have a TOSHIBA Satellite L25-S1216. I have not been able to boot into Windows XP for 3 years using the factory Recovery and Applications/Drivers DVD and the Fully Recover procedure on the back of the DVD packae. I have been using Linux for the past 3 years. Ubuntu SMART test disk utility tells me I have 20 bad hard drive sectors. I have concluded I should buy a new hard drive, since mine has 20 bad sectors. My current hard drive is ATA-6, so I know I need a PATA compatible hard drive. I'd like to increase to maybe 60 GB from the current 40 GB. I'd also like to go with a solid state drive, but there don't appear to be many PATA compatible solid state drives.
And I don't want to get too complicated or expensive; I want to stay with my current Windows XP. Not sure if a SATA PATA interface adapter would work to allow me to use a SATA solid state hard drive or not. I know (from reading knowledge base posts) there is also the potential problem of the older BIOSs not recognizing the newer Advanced Drive Format drives.
QUESTION: Does anybody have any advice about buying a hard drive that would work for me? How can I be reasonably sure a hard drive I buy is compatible with my computer?
Thank you,
Bob
Solved!
Go to Solution.

either get a pata drive (you can get larger than the stock 40gb) or use your $ towards a more current new/used laptop. pata ssd would be a waste and I doubt adapter would work. also, ms is dropping support for xp so it would be a good time to upgrade to something with a more current os as well.
L305-S5955, T9300 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 60GB SSD, Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit

MDD freezes when transferring files to new Hard Drive.

I am using a G4 MDD Dual Processor Tower with 1 GB DDR SDRAM, Dual 1 GHz and an 80 GB hard Drive on an ATA/100 controller, using a cable select cable (OEM). I just installed an additional PATA Western Digital WES-WD3200JB 320 GB hard drive. Both drives are on the ATA/100 and on Cable Select mode. The 80GB hard drive (which has the system installed on it) was originally installed in the slave position (and still is). I zeroed the drive and did a PRAM reset before I partitioned and formatted the drive.
I have had freeze up troubles when I try to transfer files from the old 80GB Hard Drive to this new 320 GB one. I have tried transferring files from a DVD to this new Hard Drive without a problem. I have tried transferring that same load of files from the new Hard Drive to the old one without a problem. The only time it seems to freeze up is when I try to transfer a large number of files from the old Hard Drive to the new one. The problem doesn’t occur with large files, just with a large number of files. For example, I have transferred a single 917MB file without a problem, but when I try to transfer a folder that has 158 items totaling 38.6 MB, that is when my computer freezes up. However, I have frequently transferred folders containing a few (under 20) files that are under 5 MB without a problem.
I have considered putting the new drive on the ATA-66 controller instead of the ATA-100 (as several Apple forum posts recommend), but I would rather figure out why the freeze up occurs in only this specific set of circumstances.
Any theories on what is causing this freeze up, or suggestions on how to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

ATA doesn't share a bus very nicely, you can always put the WD 320 over to ATA/100 or do that now, but yes, isolate them.
You may have directory problem or bad sectors, so eliminating that would be another step.
Some people even recommend zeroing a new drive right off the bat.
PATA should not have the problems of SATA, but you might want to look into whether this drive has come up in other problems. OWC includes it in one of the FW cases also.
And you could move your OEM to FW case, can't imagine continuing to use the OEM drive at this point (they were slow and had only 2MB cache then, I use mine for an emergency FW backup system).

Have Old Hard drive and want to move old data onto new hard drive in imac.

I am trying to get my files off of an old hard drive. I have it hooked up through a sata drive. I am able to access all the programs but for whatever reason I am unable to access any of the files, i.e- 1,00's of pictures, videos, music, and documents. Is there something else I need to do in order to get the files, or is it possible that all the programs could still be on it but the files are just missing? In the current Sata it only has two plugs but on my hard drive it looks like there is another place to plug something in.

Hello again Shadow,
The way I do this is to:
1) Install your new hard drive into your iBook
2) Get your iBook reassembeled
3) Place your old hard drive in your firewire enclosure
4) Insert your install DVD into your iBook and restart with the C key held down. When the installer launches, select your language in the first pane, click 'continue' and in the upper dropdown menu in the next page select Utilities > Disk Utility. After DU is open, select your hard drive from the list of volumes on the left (the very top one), and then click the 'Partition' tab to the right. Then select 1 partition (normal) and make sure that you have 'Mac OS Extended (journled)' selected in the lower section. Then click 'partition'
5)Quit disc utility, which brings you back to the installer. continue with your installation of OS X. In one of the first steps you will see a button on the lower left which says 'options' click on that and make sure that the option 'Installs OS X for the first time' is selected. It will normally be selected by default with a new drive.
6) After the installation, the Migration Assistant will ask if you would like to transfer your information from another mac. click yes then follow the instructions. but instead of using another mac, connect a firewire cable from your enclosure with your old hard drive installed. The installer will think that this is another mac and will transfer all of your account information and user files (everything!)from your old drive to your iBook's new drive. Just diconnect when it says to and complete the installation sequence.
You're done!
Check back again if anything is unclear.
Randy
Message was edited by: DesertSage

I purchased mountain lion from apple but never got a disk. How do I install it on my new hard drive, old hard drive failed and is not recoverable according to Apple and Recovery Specialist?

I have a mid 2009 MacBook Pro with newly installed SATA HD + SSD, I can get mavericks download free but I can't recover photos, apps, files etc from time machine (1TB Time Capsule), I think I was running lion when I started backing up on it but I had updated to mavericks before the HD Failure. When I tried to transfer info from Time Capsule it says " no volumes detected" or something to that effect. I had mucho info backed up on that capsule. Any help appreciated, please spell it all out for me if you can help, I am not at all tech savvy and desperate to get up and going as I am an online student with a fast approaching deadline for course paper. Thank you in advance :)

Step 1: Buy a new Hard drive that can be installed in your MacBook Pro later, and an External enclose to place it in for now.
The MacBook Pro before 2010 can not contain the stand-alone firmware to go to the Internet and get a fresh copy of Mac OS X and install it.
You will need a working Recovery_HD, or to drop back to a 10.6 DVD (if it will Boot on your Mac).
There may be a functioning Recovery_HD on your existing Boot Drive. If you were running 10.7.4 or later and Time Machine, there may be a Recovery_HD on the Time Machine Volume.
To check:
Hold down the Alt/Option key as you restart. This will slowly draw a gray screen and then add an Icon (over several minutes) for each potentially-bootable volume. If any Recovery_HD shows up, take it, and you will be able to get to Internet Recovery and re-download some version of Mac OS X that can be installed on a new drive.
It is generally far quicker to set up a new drive and install Mac OS X than to struggle with only the primitive tools available only on a DVD or a Recovery_HD. Once you get any version of Mac OS X running, you can get some work done and attempt to salvage first your data, then your drive (if either will be possible).
By NOT trying to Boot from and use the possibly-damaged drive, you improve your chances of being able to salvage some files off it, since blocks will not be over-written by running Mac OS X from it.

Moving Data from old hard drive to new hard drive

I'm posting this question in this category , I hope it's the right place. Here's my situation and general information. I have a Toshiba L35 S2161 laptop, it's about 5 yrs old, running WinXP Service Pack 3. just got the blue screen, wouldn't boot, tried everything and I only have the factory provided "recovery" disc that will wipe my drive and lose all my data if I use it. I hadn't been doing regular backups, so I want to save as much if not all of my data as I can. I don't want to spend time here going over everything I've tried (boot disc like Knoppix, etc) which didn't work, just need to get to the bottom line and make sure I'm doing the next steps correctly.
Here's my plan:
l. Remove old hard drive from laptop
2. purchase new hard drive - I've been told any drive will work, it doesn't have to be designed for a Toshiba. I've been looking at best prices, etc. mainly Western Digital. I may purchase a larger drive to at least get more memory , although I really didn't have that much on my old drive, but had a lot of apparent memory-related problems, freezes, etc.
3. Install new blank drive into laptop, using the Toshiba factory recovery disc to reformat the disc and get it ready to receive the data.
4. Insert the recovery disc into the drive, turn on the computer and HOPE that it boots it up and installs a fresh install on the new drive. Not sure what the screen willl show at this point - I've never installed a new drive in a laptop, so will be somewhat nervous at this point to see what happens.
5. Assuming the new drive is recognized by the recovery disc and installs a clean version of WIN XP (I'm assuming that's what's on the recovery disc that came with my computer, because it had WIN XP pre-installed), I will now be ready to transfer data from the old drive.
6. This is the step I'm not sure what or how to do next. I would like to clone my entire old drive onto the new drive but I'm afraid if I do that it might load damaged files that would mess up my new install. I purchased a disc enclosure with a USB cable (haven't received it yet), and was going to use that somehow. I presume I will plug it in and it will show up as an external drive and I can access that drive and transfer my priority files or data first and then try to transfer as much more as I can....
I need further help and information about this last step...the critical data transfer method. There are cloning kits that are plug and play and would transfer my entire system as it was before the blue screen, but again, I'm concerned about transferring everything onto a clean install and finding myself with a computer that won't boot again because it transferred a bad file. Also, would it overwrite or interfere with the clean install on the new drive? I'm stuck at this point....hopefully someone out there can walk me through this final step with the best option for transfer. I'm trying to avoid purchasing pricey software like Acronis (which I looked at online and it seemed difficult to use, to figure out what to transfer).
My laptop is obviously out of warranty, being five years old, and I am not interested in taking it in to repair tech, I want to do this myself and I think I can with a few helpful tips. Thanks for any help asap...

Hi!
The error message I received on the blue screen was "unmountable boot volume" which leads me to believe i have a corrupted MBR. This fiasco happened when I turned off my computer when it was running a program (I know, bad thing to do).
I'm waiting on a new hard drive with a 120 GB (my old drive was 80GB). I was told not to go above 120 or I'd have partition problems.
The SATA drive enclosure powers up the old drive (I can hear the disc spinning) so the disc isn't dead. If I''d have the full retail vesion of WinXP I would of course have used the recovery console, but I only had the toshiba recovery disc that came with my system. Also, I couldn't burn a CD boot disc...didn't have access to another computer nor would a tech friend do it for me as he apparently made a disc for someone and their system crashed so I had no choice but to buy a new drive and try to transfer the data via the SATA external drive/usb cable.
My big question now is: Will the Toshiba recovery disc actually reformat my new drive? Someone on another forum with a Toshiba laptop had purchased a new drive, used the recovery disc and the cd just went into a constant loop and never went into a full install. I'm thinking that maybe on a new drive there isn't enough knowledge base there for the recovery disc to install and reformat a new disc. That would be a bummer because then I'd have no choice but to purchase a retail version of WinXP which I was hoping not to have to do. Thats' getting into some $$ when added to all the other thing I've tried to get this laptop up and running . (A Knoppix live CD boot disc didn't work either).
I don't know what service pack was on the old disc...possibly SP2, but if it was only SP1, I fear it's not going to have the ability to format a new disc. The disc does have drivers, etc. but the question is, are they able to install the OS. I was running XP3 when it crashed, so I know i would have to download that again. I just want to get the darned system back up and running with my new drive and restore disc. IF I can do that, then I'll try to transfer the data from the old drive via the external drive enclosure.
I also decided against the clone....I was afraid I'd be cloning a bad disc or errors onto a new drive, and didnt' want to stress a possibly wonky drive even more than it possibly is.
So, that's where I'm at now! Thanks so much for any further insight into this....something tells me the recovery disc isn't going to format my new drive but fingers crossed...more thoughts/feedback appreciated!

Where can I buy a larger hard drive for my late 2008, 15" macbook pro? From reviewing questions and answers on the support community it would appear that having Apple remove the old and install the new hard drive is recommended. But how/where?

Where can I buy a larger hard drive for my late 2008, 15" macbook pro? From reviewing questions and answers on the support community it would appear that having Apple remove the old and install the new hard drive is recommended. But how/where?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can install the new hard disk yourself if you want to. You just need a 2'5" SATA II hard drive, which is compatible with your MacBook Pro. You can buy one at OWC > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ You can filter hard drives by computer, so press a "Click to view all...", choose your computer in the sidebar and it will give you the compatible hard drives.
There are different brands for the MacBook Pro. The most recommended are HGST and Seagate, which have good reputation. A 7200 rpm hard drive will give you extra performance

System restore on DV6 not working after new hard drive installed (Vista 32-bit)

Hi there,
I have a HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop (DV6 1210sa) and recently on start up I have been receiving a message saying that the hard drive is at imminent risk of failure. I therefore burned the restore CDs and bought a new hard drive: (A Toshiba 2.5 inch 80gb SATA hard drive 5400 RPM). The first part of the restore completes successfully then the HP screen appears after a restart and then goes to install windows, but before this begins I receive a message saying “Windows setup could not configure windows to run on this computer.” I then have to restart and get the same message. Is this drive somehow incompatible? Is there something I’m missing?
Thanks in advance

Here are the factory specs for your HP Pavilion dv6-1210sa Entertainment Notebook Computer. Based on the specs, the original hard drive was 250GB. This could be a factor in your issue. It could also be that the drive is an advanced format (AF) drive. Please provide the model of the drive for our review.
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Trying to install new hard drive in MacBook

Hello,
I am at a dead end and would appreciate your help.
Due to a no-boot situation that I chased for several days. My hard drive was damaged (many corrupt/damaged/orphaned files) I confirmed that by using Apple Hardware test and then running a fsca check that said the disc was unfixable, I had to replace a failed system internal hard drive that HAD tiger 10.4.6 OS on it
I just physically installed a new 160 GB WD (Sata) hard drive in a Macbook. No problem!
However, when I try Power + C key to boot from the install disk #1 so I can get to disk utility to partition format etc. the new drive
--------------------------------- I can't get there from here???
After the start up chime, and after a short delay I see a ---black folder icon--- on the screen with a question mark symbol on it that is blinking.
It seems that the Mac is telling me that it can not find the "System" Boot or some other needed folder.
That actually makes since since I know that the new Hard drive internal/system drive is blank and NOT partitioned, initalized or formatted.
The ONLY way I know to (prepare) the new disc for reinstallation of the OS is to boot from the install CD (power + C key)and navigate to the Utility area and prepare the new drive.
Right?
But I can not get any further than the point where I see the blinking black folder icon and question mark so NO UTILITY options are available to me.
NOTE:
I do have several windows based PCs that I could use to format/partition IF I can find a utility or program that will allow me to set a Mac partition from a PC based utility (and no, I do not want to end up with a Fat32 partition on the Mac)!
If there is a utility available I can install the new disk as a external USB connected unpartitioned hard drive and go from there.
Does anyone have any ideas about what I can do to get on with this matter?
Help of any kind will be appreciated.
(short of trashing the Macbook---Yes I considered doing that too)
Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,
Try just the C key alone, or the Option key, which should show boot choices, then...
"Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the Erase tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume, then choose MacOS Extended Journalled.
6. Click Erase & look for Security Options. choose Zero 1 pass."
Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X - Tiger and Leopard...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
Be sure to see the GUID Partition info at the bottom.

Windows XP Pro doesn't recognize new hard drive on T61 thnkpad

Hard drive: 160GB 7200 RPM SATA
                    The Lenovo part number for the new hard drive on my invoice is: 41N5737
                    However, the sticker on the hard drive itself has this Lenovo part number: 42T1057
                    It is made by Hitachi.
Thinkpad: T61 (8891-CTO)
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 (newly purchased, shrink-wrapped)
This thinkpad had Vista Home on it. I bought the new hard drive for the purpose of loading a just-purchased copy of Windows XP Pro SP2 on it (. After installing the new hard drive:
1. I turned on the machne and inserted the Windows XP CD.
2. Files from the CD (drivers, etc.) started being loaded (into memory, I guess).
3. Then got a prompt to select whether I'd like to install a new version of XP or restore an existing version.
4. I selected Install a new version.
5. Then I got a message saying Windows could not find a hard drive on my machine.
6. Then I restarted, and interrupted the restart to look at the BIOS config settings
7. I found the hard drive test function, and started the hard drive test.
8. It took a while, but the hard drive test was successful. So hard drive is OK, and the BIOS is aware of it.
How can I make Windows XP aware of my new hard drive?
Thanks for any help....
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Tdc3, welcome to the forum,
change the BIOS settings in Config > SATA to Compatibility Mode from AHCI.
Andy ______________________________________
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MacBook Pro won't boot with new hard drive, but a different MacBook Pro will

So here are the details. My friend and I both have 13-inch Mid 2010 MacBook Pro's. Same processor and specs since they were purchased at the same time, but originally had 250 GB hard drives. His hard drive failed and needed a new one. Put a 500 GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 in his computer, and tried using a flash drive with "Install OS X Mavericks" on it to install Mavericks on his new hard drive. No matter what, it wouldn't install. I finally was able to install OS X 10.9.4 on it by connecting the new hard drive to my computer with a USB hard drive enclosure. I put the hard drive back inside his computer and it wouldn't boot (stuck on the gray screen with apple logo and a spinning wheel). I then attached to the hard drive to his computer externally with the USB enclosure, and then it booted and worked perfectly.
So, it seemed like the problem was with something inside his computer, but then I switched our drives, and that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I put my original hard drive into his computer, and his new hard drive into my computer, and they both booted and worked perfectly, so I have no idea why his computer will not boot with the new hard drive internally.
To summarize, his computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally (won't work if it's internal), and 2) my hard drive internally
but my computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally AND internally, and 2) my hard drive internally.
Both hard drives have OS X 10.9.4 installed
If anyone has any idea what's causing this and how to make his computer work with the new hard drive internally that would be greatly appreciated.

So after switching the internal SATA cables from each computer, now we have
His computer, with my SATA cable:
1) Worked with every hard drive!
My computer, with his SATA cable:
1) Works with 1 TB Toshiba hard drive
2) Works with 500 GB Seagate hard drive
3) Works with my original hard drive
4) Flashing folder with question mark with his old hard drive
So it turns out you were right! Definitely had something to do with the SATA cables. But it's still strange that mine was able to boot with all the hard drives except the one that was originally in his. So it seems like it was some combination of his SATA cable and something else, since when his SATA cable was in his computer only 1 hard drive (my original) worked, and when it was in my computer, 3 hard drives worked. But at least its working, and I'm just gonna keep our SATA cables switched since that seems to work out fine

New hard drive - SATA or PATA?

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