Re: SATA 1.5GB vs 3.0GB by WindPipe
WindPipe
Thu May 15 17:12:22 PDT 2008
Thank you kindly Anna, and will do.
- WindPipe (Not the OP)
Anna wrote:
>>> "Greg Brown" <gregvbrown@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:fef0f52e-156b-4e10-a1f5-a886bf31eb22@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>>>> If I have a SATA card that is for 1.5GB connections, can I connect a
>>>> SATA 3.0GB hard drive to it? Will it just thottle it down to 1.5GB?
>
>
>>> Anna wrote:
>>> Greg:
>>> Frankly I wouldn't worry too much about the "throttling down" issue. With
>>> rare exceptions you would see virtually no real-life difference re data
>>> transfer rates between a SATA 1.5 Gb/s drive and a SATA 3.0 Gb/s drive
>>> connected to one of these SATA controller cards - assuming the card works
>>> >> as advertised.
>>>
>>> But what you would have to be concerned about is...
>>>
>>> Whether the SATA controller card (regardless of whether it was designed
>>> to support SATA-II HDDs) would even work in a reliable way.
>>>
>>> By & large our experience with SATA controller cards (regardless of
>>> whether they were designed to accommodate SATA-I or SATA-II drives) has
>>> >> been quite negative - to the point where we recommended against their
>>> use >> unless there was no other viable recourse available to the user.
>>> We have simply found them (we've used a fairly wide variety of these
>>> devices) to be >> erratic and unreliable on a day-in day-out basis.
>>> Drive recognition issues >> have been an ongoing nagging problem in our
>>> experience.
>>>
>>> I fully realize there are users who have found these devices useful and
>>> have experienced no problems using them. But as a general proposition we
>>> have found too many problems to recommend them . Our position has been if
>>> the >> motherboard does not have built-in SATA capability, then continue
>>> to use PATA HDDs in your system. Or better yet, if feasible, purchase a
>>> new motherboard with SATA capability.
>>>
>>> These SATA controller cards - especially the ones that support only the
>>> 1.5 Gb/s interface data transfer rate - have dramatically fallen in price
>>> over the past year or two, so I guess that's sort of an incentive for a
>>> user to try them out. (I've seen some of them on sale for as little as
>>> $15 from online vendors). Since you already have one I suppose it's worth
>>> a try to see how it will work with the SATA-II HDD you're contemplating.
>>> Theoretically the SATA-II HDD is backwards compatible with the 1.5 Gb/s
>>> specification so there should there be no drive recognition problem. If
>>> there is such a problem and your SATA-II HDD is equipped with jumpers to
>>> >> select the 1.5 Gb/s (not all SATA-II HDDs are so equipped), then
>>> jumper the drive accordingly and hope for the best.
>>> Anna
>
>
> "WindPipe" <wind_pipe@msnews.com> wrote in message
> news:eMiphuZtIHA.3420@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hello Anna, would you know if it is the same case for SATA CD-DVD drives,
>> in terms of reliability? Connecting on to a SATA controller car that is.
>> I'm about to connect one into my Nephew's PC, his MoBo has 2 SATA-I
>> connectors that already has 2 HD connected to them, and wants to connect
>> up his new SATA CD-DVD drive via, his SATA controller card. We'll do it
>> anyway, just asking if you know from your experience if you have seen the
>> same deal with optical drives.
>>
>> Thanks and regards,
>> - WindPipe
>
>
> WindPipe (I assume you're not the OP?)...
> I've had only one (maybe two) experiences re connecting a SATA optical drive
> to a SATA controller card (and I can't recall whether the card(s) were
> SATA-I or SATA-II devices, should that even matter). I don't recall any
> problem resulting from this connection - the optical drive(s) performed just
> fine, but again, this is based on only one or two experiences. My guess
> would be - but it would be *only* a guess - that a user would be less likely
> to experience the kinds of problems we ran into (that I described above)
> when using the SATA controller card for a SATA HDD connection. Perhaps other
> users coming upon this thread can relate there experiences in this area.
>
> As you say, since your nephew already has both components give it a try and
> see how it goes. And please keep us informed of the results. And if you do,
> indicate the make/model of both the optical drive and the SATA controller
> card.
> Anna
>
>