EIDE to SATA: Duh?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ToolPackinMama
  • Start date Start date
Why should I use SATA drives in my new PC builds?
Click to expand...
Faster on paper, in odinary use I can't say it's worth it yet.
My bad experiance with one was the plastic piece on the drive that the
cable fits on was tight. In wiggling the cable off the drive the
brittle plastic broke resulting in a upset user as I didn't twist that
much, no plastic = useless drive.
 
Faster on paper, in odinary use I can't say it's worth it yet.
My bad experiance with one was the plastic piece on the drive that the
cable fits on was tight. In wiggling the cable off the drive the
brittle plastic broke resulting in a upset user as I didn't twist that
much, no plastic = useless drive.
Click to expand...

I see.

Don't you need a special mobo, cable, connector, etc.?
 
Why should I use SATA drives in my new PC builds?
Click to expand...

Theoretically faster, but you'll never notice the difference. Less cable
clutter, which is nice. SATA is where the industry is headed, though...and
it will get faster.

SATA can be a pain to configure in Linux with 2.4.xx kernel, but the
2.6.xx kernel has support built in, or so I've been told. That's about the
only downside to SATA that I know of.

feroce
 
ToolPackinMama said:
I see.

Don't you need a special mobo, cable, connector, etc.?
Click to expand...

There are PCI SATA cards also for MBs that do not have it built-in natively.
Most drives come with the cable. There is also the benefit of less clutter
than with ribbon connectors thus better airflow. It will be the way of the
future. Right now, the speed difference is slight.


Ed
 
The cable thing is a mith. In fact they are a pain. They are two to three
times longer than they need to be. They are stiff and they do not dress and
route well.
JPS
 
Why should I use SATA drives in my new PC builds?
Click to expand...

There's no reason, really, to go out and get new drives for the sake of
getting them. However, if you do plan to get new drives, it would be smart
to use the latest standard to "future-proof" your purchase. SATA drives
will have a longer life span than EIDE drives will.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
9:44am up 40 days 18:30, 2 users, load average: 0.16, 0.06, 0.01

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...
 
The cable thing is a mith. In fact they are a pain. They are two to three
times longer than they need to be. They are stiff and they do not dress
and route well.
Click to expand...

And... I've found the connectors on the motherboards to be a little fragile.
However, I say go with the latest hardware instead of buying yesterday's
technology.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
9:47am up 40 days 18:32, 2 users, load average: 0.04, 0.05, 0.01

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...
 
Faster.
Click to expand...

Prove it. Other than the stated transfer rate, prove that two drives - one
on ATA133 and one on SATA - that are the exact same model, where the SATA
drive is actually faster. It isn't. It can do cache flushes a little
faster, but with only an 8MB cache flushing at a speed of 150 MB/s vs. 133
MB/s, it's negligible. The only real difference comes in the ceiling when
using 4 drive RAID 0 stripes. However, a year or so ago, an online test had
119 MB/s on ATA133 RAID using a Promise add-in card and I've yet to see
SATA RAID get any faster than that.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
9:47am up 40 days 18:33, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.04, 0.00

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...
 
ToolPackinMama said:
Why should I use SATA drives in my new PC builds?
Click to expand...

If the mainboard supports SATA and the customer requires a new hard drive,
go with SATA. Otherwise a 7200RPM 8MB cache IDE hard drive is a fast as a
SATA drive. The only exception to this rule is the WD 10,000 RPM Raptor
series which compare nicely with SCSI drives. You may require a 4-pin Molex
to SATA power adapter in some cases. Not having one handy is the only
downside I've come across.
 
The cable thing is a mith. In fact they are a pain. They are two to three
times longer than they need to be. They are stiff and they do not dress
and
route well.
JPS
Click to expand...

You talking about the SATA cables?? Dunno where your cables came from, but
I promise you, mine are sooo much easier to work with that standard ribbon
cables. They're not stiff and I can route them nice and easy wherever I
need them. Guess the length issue depends on your size of case etc.

Steve
 
I'm using 2X36GB Raptor's in a RAID 0 config with an IDE drive for virtual
memory/backup/video-audio captures. Those 10000RPM Raptors in RAID 0
formatted faster than the single, smaller IDE. They are definitely faster,
and with the power supply having built in SATA power connectors and the
motherboard equipped with data cables (not adaptors) they were much easier
to install and dress. SiSandra 2004 puts the file system benchmark at the
top of the scale. I've heard the Raptors run hot, but have had no problems
with temps at all (vertically mounted front bottom of case behind two 80mm 3
speed fans.

Fitz
 
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