Intel D946GZ : problem with SATA HDD

[zboiing]

Hi,

I just bought an Intel D946GZ board with a Seagate HDD SATA 2 (160 go). This board is SATA 2.

Here is the configuration :
board : Intel D946GZ
cpu : Pentium D 2.8 Ghz
RAM : 512 DDR2 667 Kingston (soon 1 Go)
HDD : Seagate 160 Go SATA 2 ST3160811AS
Seagate 120 Go ATA/100 ST3120213A
VGA : asus 7600GT

I put SATA mode enable in the BIOS.

When I install Windows 2000 (with all updates), my HDD is not in SATA mode but in IDE mode. With Sandra I just have 52 Mo/s (and my IDE HDD which is a ATA/100 Seagate is 45 Mo/s).

How come ? I search days and days on the web to find the solution. But cannot find something.

Need some help.

 

[DavidC1]

Hi. I would say you are getting right results. I get 52MB/s with WD360 Raptor. SATA doesn't really bring measurable benefits compared to IDE, not even in theoretical bandwidth measurement tests. SATA is a form of ATA, and hence, an enhanced IDE drive. If you go to BIOS it says enable "IDE" mode.

The confusion people make is people think PATA(the regular ATA)=IDE. SATA and ATA are both IDE drives. The correct term is not SATA vs IDE drive, but rather SATA vs PATA(or ATA).

Just check from Control Panel that you have no yellow bang beside your devices(meaning the drivers aren't installed properly), and you have a SATA driver installed.

I would check out something is really wrong if you got 4-5MB/s with the measurement tests. But you are not. You are in the ballpark of most non-RAID SATA drives(just check out the comparison results from Sandra from the pull-down menus).

 

[zboiing]

Thank you very much for all this information.