hey

[skateis2s]

how good is serial ata, how many pin serial is it?, how fast and how is it compared to ATA, and external drives such as firewire/usb2, thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

Currently, SATA drives are pretty much the same old ATA drives you're used to seeing, except with a new way of getting the data in and out. The notable oddball is the Western Digital 10000rpm "Raptor" model, which is like some sort of SCSI-wannabe drive (it has quick seeks and a 10000rpm spindle speed). SATA has slim cables with fewer connectors.

Serial ATA has a theoretical peak throughput of 150 megabytes (= 1200 megabits) per second. USB 2.0 has a theoretical peak throughput of 60 megabytes (= 480 megabits) per second, and current-generation Firewire has a theoretical peak throughput of 50 megabytes (= 400 megabits) per second. In theory, SATA equipment has the potential to be hot-pluggable, meaning you can unplug a drive while the system's running, but on desktop boards it's probably not a good idea.

Recent-model SCSI is the real thing, with 160 or 320 megabytes per second per SCSI channel, up to 14 drives per cable, up to 10-meter bus lengths (internal and/or external), command queueing, extremely low seek times, speeds of 10000rpm or 15000rpm, and generally these drives are built (and warranted) for five years of 24/7/365 server abuse.

Bottom line, pick SATA if you want the slim cables or if you want to get a Raptor and improve performance without investing in a SCSI setup.

 

[skateis2s]

thanks a bunch

 

[shiftomnimega]

So just to sum up you're saying there's no point to SATA right now.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: shiftomnimega
So just to sum up you're saying there's no point to SATA right now.

Let's put it this way: I just bought a motherboard with four SATA jacks on it. They're all vacant. If I did buy SATA drives, it wouldn't be because I think SATA is inherently better, it's because that's what kind of jacks my mobo happens to have available. As it is, my work system uses two 15000rpm SCSI drives. My PATA ports are running a couple optical drives and a Zip250 drive.

The mechanicals of the drive are a whole different question, and a 10000rpm Raptor would make a fast drive no matter which interface it used (SATA or PATA) because it has high RPMs and quick seek times, not because it happens to be SATA. In fact, the Raptor is actually a PATA drive with an onboard PATA-to-SATA bridge chip. Its advanced mechanicals are what makes it fast, not its interface.

 

[pspada]

I have a Maxtor SATA hard drive and adapter. But I found Windows 2000 to be to fragile on it, and I was always having to reinstall the OS. Windows XP did ok, but I don't have a copy for that machine. So now it has a Maxtor UDMA 133 IDE in it instead.

Now, the drive itself is very nice and quiet, and who doesn't love the cables? But in this case I suspect the adapter and/or drivers are at fault, not the drive or the basic technology.