[cfgeeks] Is SATA better?

[Jonathan Damron]

Kevin Korb wrote:

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> I used to say that but ever since they came out with the Raptor line
> they have turned things around even on the lower end stuff.
>
> - -- 
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>     Kevin Korb            Phone:    (407) 252-6853
>     Systems Administrator        Internet:
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>     Orlando, Florida        kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
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> On Tue, 9 Jan 2007, Kevin P. Inscoe wrote:
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>> Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:52:45 -0500
>> From: Kevin P. Inscoe <kevin at inscoe.org>
>> To: Central Florida Geeks <cfgeeks at mail.cfgeeks.org>
>> Subject: Re: [cfgeeks] Is SATA better?
>>
>> Kevin Korb wrote:
>>
>>> I have been doing mostly WDC lately.  Seagate likes to charge money for
>>> the privilege of using their warranty.
>>
>>
>> I have had too many bad experience with Western Digital going back
>> almost 10 years. Won't go near them.
>>
>> -- 
>> Kevin P. Inscoe                       Amateur Radio Call Sign: KE3VIN
>> Deltona, FL 32738                                28.9497N by 81.1952W
>> kevin [at] inscoe [dot] org                    http://kevininscoe.com
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CompUSA had a pretty good deal on a Western Digital SATA2 drive about a 
week ago, but I just could not do it because of all the bad things I 
have heard about Western Digital lately. I think Seagate is the best 
option if you can find one.

Back to the original question -- I don't think it will make sense to buy 
a SATA drive unless you have a controller on your motherboard. The whole 
point of SATA is higher transfer rates and that only works if you have 
motherboard, drivers, and OS that supports it. Ultra IDE is maxed out at 
133 MB, but SATA is 150MB, and SATA2 is 300 MB. Fortunately, I have 
SATA2 connectors on my motherboard and the required new power connectors 
on my power supply so I will be going for SATA2 for my next hard drive. 
 From what I have read you should notice an improvement with SATA2 on 
system startups, launching large applications, and loading of large 
levels in games. If you are not worried about such things then SATA is 
probably not worth the extra cost. By they way, even SATA is already 
becoming obsolete. This year hybrid drives are going to launch (both 
non-volatile and platter on same drive) and these are going to replace SATA.

Jonathan