Purchasing SATA just for the sake of using SATA

[Shyfe]

Right now I have 3x 200 GB PATA drives and 1x 1 TB external SATA drive. I've been using an IDE motherboard since 2003, but I'm upgrading very soon and I was wondering if I should get an internal 1 TB SATA drive or will the performance boost be almost non existent/not worth it?

Usually I play a lot of games like Team Fortress 2, browse the internet, and download movies.

 

[r_manic]

I'd suggest you switch completely to SATA, if only to keep up with what's becoming the new IDE (i.e., common standard for hard disks).

Also, once mobo manufacturers perfect SATA to make it truly hot swappable, you won't have to get new hard disks to reap the benefits.

 

[cobot]

Well, sata is a little faster, but you won't notice much difference (if any at all) by uppgrading from pata to sata unless you get a more expensive sata drive with a higher spindle speed.

It's really up to you, but I'd probably get a decent sata drive for the OS, software etc. and use the pata drives for storage.

 

[sminlal]

If you're going to buy a drive anyway it makes sense to buy a SATA drive as it will be supported by new systems and enclosures for a longer period than a PATA would be. But chances are you won't notice much of a performance difference unless you get a better class of drive (Velociraptor, for example).

 

[jsc]

Almost any motherboard you can buy now will have around 6 SATA ports and only one IDE connector (two devices). If you need more IDE devices, you will need an expansion card.

Considering the price of the sub - 1TB drives today, I would not put old IDE drives into a new build.

 

[Shyfe]

Thanks, I think I'm just going to rip out my WD10EAVS from its external hard drive. I still need to use IDE because that's the only CD-ROM I have. I'm also waiting for a deal on the Caviar Black 1 TB, which I missed a few days ago.

 

[MRFS]

There are some misleading comments above, imho.

SATA drives are currently where you will find the latest
technological improvements such a Perpendicular Magnetic Recording.

For example, just browse the Western Digital Product Line here,
and compare the feature sets available with their SATA and PATA
products:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productcatalog.asp?language=en


For example, WD's Time-Limited Error Recovery is only available
with their SATA "RAID Edition" HDDs.


MRFS