really basic hard drive question

[Tom_ZeCat]

I know someone with an HP Pavillion that's about 5 years old. He wants to add an internal drive to it. How do I know if his machine will accept a SATA internal hard drive? Is it as simple as his motherboard must have SATA ports? Is there some place online where I can put his make and model number in and find out what his motherboard supports? If it won't accept SATA, I've got to find an IDE drive, right?

[The Wise Monkey]

It really is as simple as that, but you may need the SATA drivers from your motherbaord manufacturer's website.