About SATA 3 HD

[satimis]

Hi folks,

OS Linux

Can SATA 3 (SATA III) Hard disk be run on motherboard which only supports SATA II, except sacrificing the speed (throughput)? TIA

B.R.
satimis

[oz]

Yes, it can, or at least some of them can. You might need to set a jumper to configure it properly. Check the manual or the manufacturer's website for the details.

[oz]

Here you go... I found an example of one with the proper jumper settings to run it in 3Gb/s mode rather than 6Gb/s (see the "PHY enabled" diagram near the bottom of the page):

Specifications for the Caviar Black SATA 6.0 Gb/s drives (models WD1002FAEX and WD6402AAEX)

[satimis]

Yes, it can, or at least some of them can. You might need to set a jumper to configure it properly. Check the manual or the manufacturer's website for the details.

Thanks

satimis

[satimis]

Here you go... I found an example of one with the proper jumper settings to run it in 3Gb/s mode rather than 6Gb/s (see the "PHY enabled" diagram near the bottom of the page):

Specifications for the Caviar Black SATA 6.0 Gb/s drives (models WD1002FAEX and WD6402AAEX)

Hi,

Thanks for your advice and URL.

I haven't purchased the SATA 3 HD yet.

I need a HD but the mobo of the PCs here only support SATA II. I consider it is NOT advisable to get a SATA II HD. As all the PC will be upgraded (to retire) sooner, but NOT immediately. For such a reason I set my eye on SATA 3 HD.

satimis

[oz]

You might also want to keep in mind that you can purchase add-on cards to go onto the motherboard that will give you SATA III capability. Some of these cards also come with USB 3.0 ports in addition to the 6 Gb/s SATA ports. Here's one example of such a card:

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards - U3S6

There are lots of other options available that you can choose from.



Edit: oops... the link above seems to be working intermittently, so here's another link showing the card mentioned above:

Newegg.com - ASUS Model U3S6 USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s Add-on card

[oz]

One other thing worthy of noting... all the reviews that I've read (at least so far) regarding 6 Gb/s mechanical hard drives say the speed gain is hardly noticeable, but it is very apparent with SATA III solid state drives. In fact, I read somewhere that the SATA III specification was intended mostly for the upcoming move toward SSDs.

[satimis]

One other thing worthy of noting... all the reviews that I've read (at least so far) regarding 6 Gb/s mechanical hard drives say the speed gain is hardly noticeable, but it is very apparent with SATA III solid state drives. In fact, I read somewhere that the SATA III specification was intended mostly for the upcoming move toward SSDs.

Hi ozar,

I'm very interested on SSD. Unfortunately its price is very expensive. I have to wait.

I just have another idea, to get a 1.5T SATA 2 HD instead. Its price is approx same as a 1T SATA 3 HD. I fail to see I'll upgrade my PCs in a short time. I have 2 AMD boxes, X2 and X4 with 4G and 8G RAM on board respectively. X2 box has 600G HD and X4 box has 1T HD both SATA II. The X4 box was built about 5~6 months ago. I'll put the new 1.5T HD on X2 box (I won't touch the X4 box). At time of upgrade to AMD X6 box I just use the 1.5T HD on the enclosure for storage and buy a new SATA 3 HD. Any comment? TIA

B.R.
satimis

[oz]

I personally think you'll be fine going with SATA II hard drives. I have a number of SATA III ports on my motherboard but have decided to stick with SATA II drives until I'm ready to move to a SATA III SSD. Like you say, they are still too expensive, so it might be a while before that happens for me. I do have some SATA II SSDs that are used for the main OS in each case, and they are much faster than the mechanical drives, so that's fast enough for now. All my data drives are all mechanical drives, however.

Hope it all works out for you.

[satimis]

...... I do have some SATA II SSDs that are used for the main OS in each case, and they are much faster than the mechanical drives ......

Hi ozar,

What did you meant "for the main OS in each case" ? Only the OS on SSD?

In my case on virtualization, if I install the host OS on SSD whether installing all VMs (guests) on mechanical drive as slave. However all VMs have their own OS. It won't have much benefit. Please advise. TIA

B.R.
satimis