Sata hard drives
 

Hi,

Whats the difference between a SATA and a SATA 2 hard drive? I currently have a SATA but I want to replace it, will a SATA 2 be compatable?

Thanks.

Re: Sata hard drives
 

SATA 1 operates at 150mb/s, SATA 2 operates at 300mb/s. SATA2 is backward compatible with SATA 1, though you may have to put jumper on the drive to make it operate in SATA 1 mode.

Re: Sata hard drives
 

Yes. Even if your board only supports sata 1, buy a sata 2. Sata 1 transfers at 150, sata 2 transfers at 300. They both have the same connections, sata 2 is backward compatable, but will only transfer at 150 on a sata 1 board.

Axgrinder:
Methinks we posted at the same time m8!

Re: Sata hard drives
 

Thanks guys.

Re: Sata hard drives
 

depends on how old your motherboard is. Some older VIA chipset boards did not like SataII drives so as said need capping down however not all drives ship with the cap so beware if you have an older machine. Also the transfer rates are purely theoretical and you will never get close to it

Re: Sata hard drives
 

My machine is about 2 years old.

Re: Sata hard drives
 

that would be I would guess Sata1...but dont hold me on that as I dont know what mobo you got in your machine ;)

Re: Sata hard drives
 

2 years ago sataII was out