Motherboard Problems, Please Help!?

[Taylor B]

I am having trouble deciding on two motherboards because the motherboard that I can only get has 1 IDE slot, which is for the DVD Drive, and 4 SATA slots, but I thought SATA slots were fatter than IDE, but in the picture of the motherboard the SATA slots are small, what do I do? Do I get a SATA Hard Drive?
How about an external hard drive, would that work if I don't have an internal hard dribe?

[Dave]

Oh yes, SATA is quicker than IDE. Even though the port is smaller, it's quicker in terms of transmitting data.

There are two types of SATA. SATA I and SATA II. SATA I transfers at 1.5gb/second and SATA II transfers at 3.0gb/second. I think SATA II is pretty much a new standard... but if you are going to get a hard drive, I suggest getting the SATA. I personally have four SATA drives in my computer, and I love them.

[markjem46]

Get a SATA hard drive and you can put multiple hookups on one IDE line.The IDE cable has 2 or more connectors for other drives.