SATA vs IDE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Willie
  • Start date Start date
W

Willie

I was wondering,what is the better way to go concerning hard drive
configueratins. SATA or IDE.
I can go either way but at the moment I'm using 2 IDE hard drives but am
thinking of going with SATA.

Willie
 
The operating system should be installed on the fastest hard drive you have
in the computer. Cable the drives so that it is the master drive (on IDE) or
SATA1

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
There is little speed difference between IDE and first generation SATA
drives. The newer SATA drives and controllers with NCQ and improved
throughput are theoretically faster but in reality there is still only a
modest increase in real-world performance. I would not spend extra money to
change from IDE to SATA unless you're simultaneously going to do something
else, say perhaps utilize a RAID function in your SATA controller to
increase speed or data reliability.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
 
If your going to buy a hard drive, I would buy the SATA for the simple fact
that it is the future of hard drives (at this time anyway). I personally
have a 200 gig SATA drive with Vista Home Premium installed on it and 2 IDE
(or PATA) drives for storage: 80 gig & 100 gig. SATA is faster even though
you may not notice it at face value.


Richard G. Harper said:
There is little speed difference between IDE and first generation SATA
drives. The newer SATA drives and controllers with NCQ and improved
throughput are theoretically faster but in reality there is still only a
modest increase in real-world performance. I would not spend extra money
to change from IDE to SATA unless you're simultaneously going to do
something else, say perhaps utilize a RAID function in your SATA
controller to increase speed or data reliability.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Willie said:
I was wondering,what is the better way to go concerning hard drive
configueratins. SATA or IDE.
I can go either way but at the moment I'm using 2 IDE hard drives but am
thinking of going with SATA.

Willie
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Willie said:
I was wondering,what is the better way to go concerning hard drive
configueratins. SATA or IDE.
I can go either way but at the moment I'm using 2 IDE hard drives but am
thinking of going with SATA.

Willie
Click to expand...

If you set up in a RAID setup you will get increased speed but the problem
is if one drive dies you are up the creek without a paddle. SATA reduces the
cabling within the case and should give better airflow but the SATA
connectors are pretty fagiule and if you have a tight fit ( have 2 graphic
cards ) they are easily broke.
 
SATA is faster but not that much faster, however if you plan to use both
types then install the OS on a SATA drive. There's one caveat. Most BIOS don't
have a "Boot from drive X" option and they pick an IDE drive first so when
you install the OS you can end up with an inoperable system if the first IDE
drive later fails, even if it is not the OS drive. The caveat therefore is
to remove ALL other drives when installing the OS. This shouldn't happen but
I've been nailed twice by a non OS drive failure that's taken out the OS
despite the fact that the OS wasn't installed on it. If there's only one
drive then the installer can't put stuff where it shouldn't.

If you have a couple of 5 1/4 slots consider fitting slide mounts as they
make cloning a spare OS drive much easier and the extra space improves
ventilation. Slide mounts for SATA are compact, their counterparts for IDE
drives are not and are less practical. Compusa had an IDE slide for about
$20 and the SATA slides are about $40 so you could make use of your old
hardware for backups etc. The IDE slide has the drive screwed inside an
inner slide but the SATA slides just accept a drive as it is, if you are
interested in that path it's worth thinking about before you take the case
apart as it makes changes a lot simpler in future.

Charlie
 
Back
Top