Sata 2 and 3

[mystifiedu]

Hello,can you run a sata 3 hard drive in a sata 2 hard drive dock ( external dock ) would it just run at a slower speed or not work at all in the dock ?

 

[WyomingKnott]

It will run using the slower interface. Unless it is a phenomenally (sp?) fast drive, you won't notice the difference. Try it and let us know what happens.

Umm, is the external dock connected to the computer via ESATA 2, or Firewire, or USB 2.x, or USB 3.0? I just inferred the first one by your description of a "sata 2 hard drive dock," but I shouldn't assume things.

 

[mystifiedu]

Hi WyomingKnot, I have a BlacX thermaltake external hard drive ,runs sata 2 up to 2 TB hard drives and it is connected by usb cable . I haven't bought a sata 3 hard drive to try in it as I was hoping someone else might have experience with this . Thank-you.

 

[RetiredChief]

SATA 3 Mechanical HDD is more a marketing ploy. Throughput is limited to RPMs and Plater density, which will NOT exceed SATA II. About the ONLY gain you would see is in Burst speed. SATA III SSDs are another story - they do gain!!

Have the WD Black 1TB SATA III drive connected to SATA III port - Should have saved money and bought a case of "Cool ones"

 

[WyomingKnott]

"connected by USB cable."

Then it doesn't matter - USB 2.0 (I'm assuming that's what you have) is so much slower than any of the SATA interfaces that you will be limited by the USB speed. An SATA 3 drive will work, but won't be any faster than an SATA 2 drive.

 

[Paperdoc]

WyomingKnott got that dead right! +1^

 

[mystifiedu]

Best answer selected by mystifiedu.