Will ATA133 really be worth it?

[SphincterLord]

The topic says it all... Do you guys think that Maxtor's new ATA133 drive found here will be worth it? I'm thinking of getting a new HDD and wondering if I should hold off until they are released...

Note: I linked to the 7200RPM drive cause I think 5400 defeats the purpose of ATA133

SL

 

[PliotronX]

7200rpm doesn't make a difference in transfer rate. ATA133 will offer a difference about the same as ATA66->ATA100, zip, zilch, in almost all cases. It's just a marketing number, much like "52X CDROM drives".

 

[Guilty]

Agreed, they only increase the maximum rate for marketing purposes. In reality no IDE drive caneven touch 50MB/s, so ATA66 is still adequate. Even if the channel has 2 devices, they must work in rotation. The burst levels may break ATA66 and maybe eventually ATA133, but this rarely comes into play in the real world. Again back in reality, even 15000RPM drives barely break 50MB/s and dont come close to saturating the SCSI Ultra160 spec. True the SCSI controllers can multitask so more than 1 device can be doing operations at a given time, but you must remember the massive cpu and bus overhead generated by this would grind everything to a halt, not to mention PCI topping out at 133MB/s. There is absolutely no reason to wait for ATA133 or get an ATA133 add-in controller, the drive should work backwards compatible with ATA66 and ATA100.

 

[Athlon4all]

No difference. The interface keeps getting faster, but the HD can't do it any faster, What we really need are 10k IDE drives.

 

[Pariah]

ATA133 is the only IDE standard that allows for drives larger than 128GB so it can make a world of difference. If you want to purchase the new 160GB Maxtor drive, only ATA133 will not lose you 32GB of disc capacity.

 

[thorin]

The new ATA133 standard allows for drives larger then 137GB.

The increased bandwidth is bogus. The best drive on the market currently (according to popular opinion and storagereview) is the IBM Deskstar 60GXP series which only pushes 37.5MB/Sec . That extra 4.5MB/Sec is barely justification for ATA66 let alone ATA100/ATA133.

For more information checkout the: HD Interface & Standards FAQ

Thorin

 

[urameatball]

agh darn... 137+GB?
and I just bought the maxtor 100GB ...
oh well, I can't wait forever

 

[Pariah]

The AT hard drive FAQ is highly inaccurate as noted in another thread, you'll want to look else where like PC Guide for that information.

 

[thorin]

"The AT hard drive FAQ is highly inaccurate as noted in another thread"

Uh...it is? Which other thread? I'd like to read, I'll fix it if it's wrong.

Thorin

 

[thorin]

It is far from "highly inaccurate". The only problems with it are:

1) It doesn't outline the large (137GB) + support of the new ATA133 standard. (This information is in the works, I just ahve to take time to get some good info on how their extending the address space etc...)
2) It make not distinction between UDMA and MultiWord DMA modes.
3) The ATA standards naming is partially incorrect.

Thorin

 

[SphincterLord]

Thanks for the info guys... guess I'll go with the 60GXP for now...

SL

 

[Xray]

I never upgrade a hard drive for speed.

 

[nortexoid]

it's worth it for large capacity drives as mentioned...

and should tie over until serial ATA comes along and licks your bum.

beware.