Did I buy the wrong HD?

[jf]

mobo is P4C800ed with p4 2.8c, EN-7250 360w case (would the PSU have a
SATA power connector?), ordered a Maxtor 80GB 8MB cache Ultra ATA133.
My thinking was that I wanted to keep everything 'native' to the OS so
I wouldn't have to install any extra drivers to partition/format, set
up an array? what's that about and why isn't that native?

Would I have been better off getting the SATA version of the HD?

What do you have to do differently than with parallel ATA IDE to use
SATA? is SATA native?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of SATA vs PATA IDE?

For a comparison, I looked at an Intel D865GBF manual and it says:
"for compatibility, serial ATA (SATA) functionality is transparent to
the operating system. The serial ATA controller can operate in both
legacy and native modes...Native mode is preferred...using Windows XP"

Is this the same case for the P4C800ed? The Intel manual doesn't
mention setting up arrays. The Asus manual has a lot on arrays.
(promise raid?)

 

[Paul]

mobo is P4C800ed with p4 2.8c, EN-7250 360w case (would the PSU have a
SATA power connector?), ordered a Maxtor 80GB 8MB cache Ultra ATA133.
My thinking was that I wanted to keep everything 'native' to the OS so
I wouldn't have to install any extra drivers to partition/format, set
up an array? what's that about and why isn't that native?

Would I have been better off getting the SATA version of the HD?

What do you have to do differently than with parallel ATA IDE to use
SATA? is SATA native?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of SATA vs PATA IDE?

For a comparison, I looked at an Intel D865GBF manual and it says:
"for compatibility, serial ATA (SATA) functionality is transparent to
the operating system. The serial ATA controller can operate in both
legacy and native modes...Native mode is preferred...using Windows XP"

Is this the same case for the P4C800ed? The Intel manual doesn't
mention setting up arrays. The Asus manual has a lot on arrays.
(promise raid?)

The downloadable manual can be found here. The sequence of URLs
shows the screens you should see. To save time, just click the
last one.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/download.aspx

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4C800-E Deluxe&Type=All&SLanguage=en-us

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...d=3&f_name=e1347b_p4c800-e_deluxe.pdf~zaqwedc

http://www.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4C800E-DX/e1347b_p4c800-e_deluxe.pdf

PDF page 50 and PDF page 79, have basically the same info as the
Intel manual. For SATA connected to the ICH5R Southbridge, you
can run in non-RAID mode, and use either Enhanced or Compatible
mode, depending on which OS you are booting. The Intel hardware
magically makes the SATA look like a PATA drive.

As for the advantages of SATA, I don't own any, and as a disk drive
is still media limited (i.e. not using the full bandwidth of the
wiring), the only thing you might see, is the ability to fill the
small cache on the disk drive a little faster. Translated into
English, when transferring extremely large files, a disk that spins
fast (10000 RPM) is worth more to you than any fancy wiring. For
small files, SATA would normally help, except with the use of
bridge chips, you aren't really able to use the full cable rate
anyway. I guess now you understand why I don't own any SATA drives.
By using PATA, I can transfer my drive to any of my other computers.
With a SATA drive, right now only my P4C800-E Deluxe could drive it.
What you choose, may depend on how much legacy equipment you own.

For the cabling, the SATA drive cable is slimmer, but I read occasional
reports of it being easier to make the cables fall off with SATA drives.
The PATA drive cables block more of your air flow, but won't fall
off.

HTH,
Paul

 

[S.Heenan]

mobo is P4C800ed with p4 2.8c, EN-7250 360w case (would the PSU have a
SATA power connector?), ordered a Maxtor 80GB 8MB cache Ultra ATA133.
My thinking was that I wanted to keep everything 'native' to the OS so
I wouldn't have to install any extra drivers to partition/format, set
up an array? what's that about and why isn't that native?

The Maxtor ATA133 drive would be more "native" to the OS since SATA drivers
do not need to be added by floppy, during install.
The PSU may or may not have the SATA power connector. Ask your dealer for an
adapter.

Would I have been better off getting the SATA version of the HD?

Not really.

The SATA drive is no faster. The only advantage is the thinner cable, at
present. The WD Raptor series of 10K RPM SATA drives are faster, because of
rotational speed, not the SATA interface.

 

[jf]

The Maxtor ATA133 drive would be more "native" to the OS since SATA drivers
do not need to be added by floppy, during install.
The PSU may or may not have the SATA power connector. Ask your dealer for an
adapter.

Not really.

The SATA drive is no faster. The only advantage is the thinner cable, at
present. The WD Raptor series of 10K RPM SATA drives are faster, because of
rotational speed, not the SATA interface.

by using SATA on the P4C800, does that free up an IDE channel? So i
could have 4 devices total on IDE (2 per IDE Channel) and 2 SATA
devices?

 

[Paul]

"S.Heenan" <[email protected]> wrote in message

by using SATA on the P4C800, does that free up an IDE channel? So i
could have 4 devices total on IDE (2 per IDE Channel) and 2 SATA
devices?

The Southbridge drive interfaces are arranged in "groups":

Group1 PATA1 Master+Slave
Group2 PATA2 Master+Slave
Group3 SATA1+SATA2

In an OS like Win98, which needs the "Compatible" BIOS setting,
you can use two of three groups. One group must remain unused.

With a modern OS like Win2K/WinXP, you can use all three groups
via the BIOS "Enhanced" mode.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Ken]

by using SATA on the P4C800, does that free up an IDE channel?
So i could have 4 devices total on IDE (2 per IDE Channel)
and 2 SATA devices?

Yes, if you use Windows 2000 or XP.