What’s with all the wires?


There are 40-wire PATA cables and 80-wire PATA cables, but they both have 40 pins on each connector. Why are there 80-wire PATA cables if there are only 40 pins connectors?

A) The 80-wire cables can also be used for SATA drives

B) The 80-wire cables are more durable

C) The 80-wire cables have reduced crosstalk between the signal wires

D) The 80-wire cables can support twice as many drives than a 40-wire cable

E) Twice the wires make all of the data twice as useful!