Solved How do you tell what type of hard drive that I have?

[groze]

I was reading another post on the sister forum. I am trying to figure out what type of hard drive I have without opening up the computer. Bios reports it as an SATA device, Windows 7 reports it as an ATA device. I am trying to figure out if I have a SSD drive or hybrid hard drive.

If I do have a SSD, how many writes can it handle before it goes kaput?

 

[DocBrown]

Follow this

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

Click on HD tab

 

[groze]

Same as windows 7 device manager as I said above
WDC WD5000AAKX-75U6AA0 ATA Device

But the bios reports as an SATA device

Again do I have an SSD drive?
If I do have a SSD, how many writes can it handle before it goes kaput?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I was reading another post on the sister forum. I am trying to figure out what type of hard drive I have without opening up the computer. Bios reports it as an SATA device, Windows 7 reports it as an ATA device. I am trying to figure out if I have a SSD drive or hybrid hard drive.

If I do have a SSD, how many writes can it handle before it goes kaput?

If it's an SSD, it can handle more writes than you are likely to do in the next 10 or 20 years unless you have a very very unusual situation. The scare about writing to an SSD is overdone.

Dell's don't typically have SSDs, but anything is possible.

Speccy is another program that can help you ID hardware.

Speccy - Download

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Same as windows 7 device manager as I said above
WDC WD5000AAKX-75U6AA0 ATA Device

But the bios reports as an SATA device

Again do I have an SSD drive?
If I do have a SSD, how many writes can it handle before it goes kaput?

Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - Newegg.com

Above is what you have now.

Appears to be an ordinary hard drive.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Your drive is a conventional mechanical HDD, not an SSD.

As far as SSD writes go, as long as you don't make an unusual number of writes on it, such as defragging it, it is highly unlikely you will kill it from too many writes. The notebook I'm on at this moment has the OS and data on a Samsung 840EVO. The EVOS, because of the technology they use to make them less expensive, are rated for fewer writes than most SSDs and yet, even though I have my OS and data all on the same SSD in this one drive wonder, SSD Life projects I have a bit over eight years life remaining, far beyond when I'll still be using it. The SSD boot drive, a Sammy 840 Pro, in my desktop, which runs 24/7, has only the OS and Programs on it; SSD Life projects I have only seventy years left on it.

 

[whs]

You have a Western Digital Sata HDD drive (Ata is the same).

If I do have a SSD, how many writes can it handle before it goes kaput?

More then you can make in a lifetime.

 

[Barman58]

Just for full disclosure an explanation of SATA can be found here Serial ATA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both SSD and Conventional drives can use SATA which is the type of connection to the Computer rather than a type of drive

 

[groze]

Just for full disclosure an explanation of SATA can be found here Serial ATA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both SSD and Conventional drives can use SATA which is the type of connection to the Computer rather than a type of drive

Thank you,

Little off topic
That explains why windows 98se won't work even with changing the memory limit in the system.ini, it is the connection not the hard drive. The drive can't be changed to ide legacy either or something like that in the Bios.

 

[whs]

Why don't you run 98 in a virtual partition. See here.

 

[Barman58]

It is physically possible to install a SATA drive into a windows 98 era IDE system using conversion cables (which also If I recall include some electronics), though there are also the issues with drive capacities with a very old OS which would probably mean it's not worth it, the reverse is also true, indeed I have a USB/eSATA Hot swap drive cradle that will except IDE drives, (has proved useful with recovery of client data)