SATA II and III Question, Need help asap please.

[rthughes]

Ok so I did a little research and confirmed through MaximumPCS testing that there is literally no difference whatsoever between SATA 1, 2, and 3 cables, so now what I'm wondering is if plugging a SATA III drive into a SATA II port would still function correctly? I mean I would assume that since the cords themselves are identical that it would work, likely reducing the transfer rate to 3.0 gbps as is the standard for SATA II, since if there is no difference in transfer rate of the cords it must be the plugs themselves that make the difference. Anyways I'm just curious if it would work because for some reason SATA III 3tb drvies are cheaper then SATA II 3tb drives so even if the transfer rate would only be 3.0gbps it would still be cheaper but I just want to make sure it would work before I buy them.

Thanks in advance for any assistance

 

[manofchalk]

The reason there is no difference is because you are using Hard Drives, which cant saturate SATAII.
Try again with SSD's and you will see a different story.

Also SATA 3/GBs and SATA 6GB/s dont refer to speed, but rather bandwidth.

 

[rthughes]

Interesting information, Im not quite sure that I see the difference between transfer speed and bandwidth though. Either way though, didnt really answer my question. Still hoping to find out if I can plug a "Sata III drive" into a "Sata II port". From my limited knowledge of things it sounds like there shouldnt be a problem but id like to get some definitive knowledge before the sale ends. Thanks

 

[manofchalk]

You can yes, all the SATA interfaces are forward and backward compatible.

 

[rthughes]

ok sweet. Thanks