how do i check...

When your computer boots up look for text on a black screen that says enter BIOS, it may be F2 or F12... Check your manual that came with the computer, It should be in there...
 
or... take off the front cover (perfectly safe as long as you dont touch), now if you see some flat wide cables about 1mm thick and 2 inches wide, then its IDE.
for SATA it is usually a red cable with a black socket going from the harddrive to the motherboard. look up on google what a harddrive looks like so you can tell what cable is coming out.
 
I'd use the method mattsprattuk suggested. SATA cables can be any colour, but they are only about a 1/2 inch wide.
 
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