Your mother wants to purchase a larger hard drive for her computer and asks you to see what type of drive interface she has. her computer is connected to the motherboard by a gray ribbon cable that encases 40 pins. what type of drive interface does she have?

parallel ATA interface

Explanation:

The drive interface is used for connecting hard drives, CD ROM drives and other forms of drives to the motherboard of the system. there are different types of drive interfaces and PATA ( parallel Advanced Technology Attachment )  is one of them.

An ATA interface is connected to the motherboard of a system by a ribbon cable and an ATA interface is comprised of 40 socket connectors ( pins ) and they are connected to the motherboard via a 40 or 80 conductor ribbon cable which is gray in color. the first ATA interface was approved on may 12 1994.