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Do I need an add-on card to support my new 20GB 7200 RPM Ultra DMA ATA 66?

April 26, 2017add-on ATA card DMA RPM support Ultra

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Do I need an add-on card to support my new 20GB 7200 RPM Ultra DMA ATA 66?

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Reader: I’m replacing an older ATA 33 Ultra DMA 6.3GB hard drive with a new 20GB 7200 RPM Ultra DMA ATA 66. Do I need an Ultra DMA/66 add-on card to get full performance from my new drive? My motherboard supports only Ultra DMA 33. Computer Doctor: Most ATA drives running 7200 rpm like the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus series only transfer data at an average speed of (43.2+21.6)/2= 32.4 MB/sec. In other words, you will hardly notice a difference by installing that ATA/66 card, since the drive can barely exceed ATA/33 in real performance. Don’t be fooled by the interface transfer speed, what is more important is the media transfer speed. See page 623 and 624 of the 12th edition for more information. To calculate transfer speed for the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus, I used the information at http://www.maxtor.com/products/diamondmax/diamondmaxplus/QuickSpecs/42071.