Difference between red and blue hard drive cable?

[thunked]

Hello,

I just got a new computer with Windows 7 64. The hard drive cable is red, but looks like a SATA connector? In my old computer I have a cable which looks very similar that is red. Is there a difference between blue and red as far as how it connects the hard drive? I see on my new computer what looks to be a blue plug on the motherboard. Can I take the hard drive out of my other computer and plug it into this new one? Sorry if silly question, just wondering how outdated my other drive is. It's cable looks almost identical in size to the red one, but I haven't gotten far enough into the case to compare the actual connectors.

Are they both SATA?

Thank you

 

[Zenthar]

On most motherboards, the different SATA connector colors indicates they are on different controllers.

The chipset may only allow 4 SATA ports, so in order to provide an additional 2-4 ports the manufacturers add a 2nd SATA controller. Then they use color coding to differentiate both so people won't try to RAID across different controllers. Look in your MB's manual, they will probably tell you which ports are on which controller.

 

[leon2006]

The answer is NO. The color don't make any difference... I have both Blue and Red colored cables and the performance is the same.

Yes you can plug/connect your old drive to your new computer.

 

[thunked]

Thanks much, appreciate it!

 

[thunked]

On my old computer I have XP, on my new Windows 7 64. Is there any tips you can give me on making my XP computers HDD bootable in my other one? I can do any configuration before hand, I just don't know where to read about that.

 

[Zenthar]

Not sure I understand what you want to do. You want to boot your old HDD, but in your new PC?

 

[thunked]

I want to have a dual boot - or create an image off my old OS and drive. So that I can grab data off it (in the context of the O/S) - in other words, I don't know where all the data is, and some data I get to via the UI and want to be able to slowly grab files, which I identify that I need via the UI - rather than a whole drive copy.

 

[Zenthar]

The thing is your old OS was configured using your old hardware so it might not work if you just plug it in. If your old PC is still operable, it would be easier to use it directly, backup your stuff on an external media (DVD, USB, ...) and transfer that to the new PC. Moreover, if your old Windows XP licence was OEM (not a retail copy with a box and everything), it might not be "legally" transferable to the new PC.