What is the interface of my hdd?

Question

lshw says my hdd is ATA disk, and bus info is scsi

  *-disk                  
       description: ATA Disk
       product: WDC WD2500BEVS-0
       vendor: Western Digital
       physical id: 0
       bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sda

I googled WD2500BEVS-0, and this site says my hdd is SATA.

So I wonder which is my hdd interface type:

ATA i.e. PATA, IDE
SCSI
SATA?

Why do I have different information? Thanks.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 14 '15 at 08:50

2

ATA comprises PATA and SATA, so it is correct that you have an ATA disk but more specific to say SATA. The distinction is really only important on the hardware side though.

You see SCSI because that is the subsystem that provides IO for these disks.

answered Feb 14 '15 at 08:50

casey

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Thanks. (1) I learned that SCSI is an alternative interface to PATA and SATA (e.g. https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/SCSI_vs._IDE/SATA_Disks). Did I miss something? (2) What does "the subsystem" mean? – Tim Feb 14 '15 at 09:09
Yes, SCSI is a alternative interface. Usually SCSI interface(host adapter) is used for server systems. Because SCSI host adapter is more expensive than SATA. But also Unix Systems use SCSI as controller for connect environment units to system. – byrmgcl Feb 14 '15 at 10:00
@Tim subsystem of the kernel. These days pretty much all disks except old IDE are exposed via the SCSI bus (SATA, eSATA, USB disks, etc). – casey Feb 14 '15 at 17:17
@casey: Thanks. ATA means PATA i.e. IDE or both PATA and SATA? I have another laptop Acer Aspire 5000, and [this website](http://www.miniputer.com/Acer/Aspire_5000.html) says that its hdd is ATA/100. What does "ATA" mean here? – Tim Feb 15 '15 at 17:43
@Tim PATA is parallel ATA, SATA is serial ATA. ATA is a standard command set for communicating with peripherals such as hard disks. ATA/100 refers data transfer speeds. ATA/100 is an old PATA speed. If you have SATA you are getting speeds faster than this (how fast depends on the speed of your hardware ports and the disk drive). – casey Feb 15 '15 at 18:05
@casey: when people say ATA nowadays, do they mean PATA i.e. IDE, or can be PATA or SATA? – Tim Feb 15 '15 at 18:42

What is the interface of my hdd?

1 Answers1