Mixing 6 GB/S drives with 3 GB/S drives

[darrenct83]

Hello,
Just got my new build up and running. Asus m4a89gtd pro(890 GX Chipset) with a WD 6 Gb/s hard drive. If I put my old 3 Gb/s hard drive on the same board will both drives run at 3 Gb/s? Or will they both run at their own speed?

 

[sminlal]

You can mix both drive types with no problems. SATA is designed to be downwardly compatible - the drive negotiates with the port to select the highest speed supported by both ends.

Whether you use a 3Gbit/sec or a 6Gbit/sec port is irrelevant for hard drives as the drives themselves are much slower than either. It's only a few of the very high-end SSDs that can actually exceed 3Gbits/sec.

 

[darrenct83]

Thanks for the info. I will put the extra HD in then. You never know when you could use an extra 300 Gigs.

 

[darrenct83]

Best answer selected by darrenct83.