SATAII, is it really worth it?

[omgwtfbbq]

I am currently in the market for a new HD, the SATAII one is $5 more than the ATA one of the same size!!!

however i am unsure of the installation process of SATA(II) drives, could somone please explain the process of installing an SATA(II) drive to me and how it differs from a typical ATA drive installation? thanks

Also will i need a floppy drive to install some form of SATA drivers? i have heard various different stories about needing to install drivers to get windows to install/boot off a SATA(II) hard drive...and yeah i have a floppy drive but i cannot find any of my old floppy disks and i cannot find anywhere to buy them...

basically what i am saying is: is it really worth it?

thanks again for your help

 

[FragTek]

Installation just requires you to set a jumper on the back of the drive, plug it in like normal, and that's it.

SATA2 is worth it, very much so.

 

[FarFarAway]

Mine only required me to use the Hitachie Utility to enable SATA 300 - very easy and runs VERY fast

 

[Raven]

/me didnt do anything to get sata2 speeds on the seagate.

but ye sata is worth it.

smaller cables which dont restrict airflow in the same way as pata cables does.

faster burst speeds but in the end it doesnt give much of a speed increase, sata2 also supports ncq which gives a slight increase in some situations.

when it comes to drivers, im using a nf4 board and the only time i need drivers is when running raid as far as i know.

 

[dbates]

Apart from running a disk benchmark, is there an easy way to know if you're running I or II ?!

 

[FarFarAway]

Apart from running a disk benchmark, is there an easy way to know if you're running I or II ?!

HD Tach

 

[FragTek]

Apart from running a disk benchmark, is there an easy way to know if you're running I or II ?!

Nope just bench it, takes about 4 seconds. Probably easier than taking off your side panel and looking at the jumpers on the back of the drive.

 

[dbates]

So what HD Tach results are you folks getting from Sata II drives then ?

 

[FarFarAway]

229 from Seagate 7200.10

226 from Hitchi 7K160

 

[dbates]

229 what ? Burst speed ? Average read ? Sequential read ? What are you measuring there ?

 

[FarFarAway]

Burst speed in HD Tach.

Aint got exact numbers n me but I could post some I spose later on

 

[Rastalovich]

229 from Seagate 7200.10

226 from Hitchi 7K160

Got 122.6 here on the same Seagate drive *I believe* on S1, so you almost get double.

The four I have here each have a jumper to set to go 1.5g or take it off for 3g.

So if your concerned about buying a S2 and it not working on S1, on the Seagates and Samsung clones it`s merely a case of switching a jumper. (stupid I know, surely the technology should be able to detect it itself)

Nice and cheap too, got a 250g/10m Hitachi (badged Samsung) for ~£45 from Scan last week.

I may look to see if I can find a nice`n`cheap S2 card for these pcs, dunno tho.

 

[nawfal]

i didnt notice any change moving for ata133 ==> sata ==> sata II

its all gimic, even though interface speed is faster, the hard disk drive cant actually run at 3gb so its kinda pointless

 

[FragTek]

i didnt notice any change moving for ata133 ==> sata ==> sata II

its all gimic, even though interface speed is faster, the hard disk drive cant actually run at 3gb so its kinda pointless

Not true, the jump between SATA 1.5 and SATA 3.0 is quite drastic. Have you made certain that the jumper on the back of your drive is set to SATAII mode?

 

[FarFarAway]

SATA 300 gave me an extra 70mbps

 

[Ham]

I noticed a difference between SATA2 and 1, none between 133 and 1 though.

windows splash screen went from 12 seconds too 3...

 

[WC Annihilus]

With my RAID array, when on SATA150 the splash screen line scrolled by like, 5-7 times before I got in. With SATA300 it barely scrolls by once.

 

[Rastalovich]

Not true, the jump between SATA 1.5 and SATA 3.0 is quite drastic. Have you made certain that the jumper on the back of your drive is set to SATAII mode?

Having said that Frag, it does depend a great deal on what u store on u`r pc. If u`r pc is crammend with mp3 files, u don`t notice much, even tho HDTach will prove otherwize obviously.

 

[nawfal]

Having said that Frag, it does depend a great deal on what u store on u`r pc. If u`r pc is crammend with mp3 files, u don`t notice much, even tho HDTach will prove otherwize obviously.

yeah for large transfers maybe. but for the normal user, its not a big noticiable difference

 

[FragTek]

yeah for large transfers maybe. but for the normal user, its not a big noticiable difference

I noticed a good increase in speed just about everywhere, burst speed (game loading), large file transfers, windows boot time, etc.