Basic story = is my HD is 'phuked' so i need a new one! [atm im using a live ubuntu disk!] My Motherboard [MSI K8T Ne2] supports both SATA and ATA. The thing is, i cant remember if you can boot off a SATA drive! I *think* i heard something about not being able to boot off a SATA disk, is this right? [i will only have one drive] Also, whats SATA2 about? SATA = 150 MB/s SATA2 = 300 MB/s.... so i guess i need new motherboard if i want one of these basically, i have £30-50 to get a new HD, SATA or ATA.... what would you recomend + any recomended brands? note: i will be ordering from www.microdirect.com as my dad has an account with them and is about to order some crud (which means i dont have to pay P&P) *edit* idiot here forgot to check the other posts first!, i have the sata drivers *somewhere* to i will be able to install the OS*
SATA no question Yes, you can boot from a SATA disk, SATA would be of no use if you couldn't boot off it. I'd recommend Western Digital or Seagate, doesn't matter which, try to get a 8MB Buffer version of whatever size you are after, just don't buy any Maxtor junk (i saw your post in a previous thread). I don't know what you'd get with £30-50, but i'd say a 120GB would do P.S - Ahhhh, good ol' Linux, always comes to the rescue. I'd pay to see a Microsoft Live CD hahahaha
1. http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=6768&GroupID=602 ^western didgital 200 GB [8MB cache] @ £65.21 2. http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=8266&GroupID=599 ^Seagate 80GB [8MB cache] @ £42.42 the choices :> i think my parents are going to buy it as a early christams present, so i think i will get the 200 GB both theese prices are from microdirect.co.uk, if you've seen it ALOT cheaper let me know (and im not talking about £5/10)
Well concidering the price go for WD as it's a much better gig for the buck deal. Either way yeah SATA is naturally the way to go and don't worry about SATA2. If you're really a bleeding edgerthan I suppose one might look into it as it's technically capable of speeds twice that of SATA. With current drives, however, the speed of the interface is not the limiting factor (150MBps is more than enough to support the peak speed of any available hard drive), so the benefits of SATA2 will not be seen for some time rendering it mostly useless in that department for now. One major benefit of SATA2 is a feature called NCQ (native command queuing). This feature organizes the flow of data from the motherboard chipset to the hard drive controller in such a way that the hard drive does not have to stress itself too much when retrieving your data. But don't worry about it as most people get SATA1 and it's great, get the WD or a bigger Seagate.
For some reason i didnt notice this one the other day: LINK its a "200 GB Seagate Barracuda® SATA 7200rpm 8MB cache".... basically the same as the WD but it has a five year warrenty [so i think i will get this one as :swear: maxtor failed after 3] Also, SATA drives dont need any extra cables do they? I allready have a data cable (i actually have 3, but no SATA drive ) The reason i say this is beacuse i *think* thers something diffrent about the power connector (but why would they change a standard connecter? i just dont want to get caught out!), but im prolly wrong again.... SATA is never something that i have looked at before [the last time i did a *big* upgrade the drives where quite expensive so i never looked at them!] After christmas [when i have some £££] im gona double/tripple my ram (currently @ 512) and get myslef a new PSU... as i currently using the one supplied with the case, allthough its served me well P).... ive seen enuf rantings from hwf users tell each other to get a decent PSU [and i will have the cash so why not?] Thanks guys
There are two options for connecting most SATA hard drives, both use that data cable that connects the HDD to the mobo but you can use either a standard 4-pin connector from you're PSU or a SATA power connector that most hard drives, assuming their remotely modern, will come with. If you don't have any of the SATA power connectors on your PSU than you'll have to use the standard 4-pin molex connectors or get a new PSU.
What's wrong with maxtor drives? *trembles at the fact that I own one* I haven't had any problems...but then again i might be having problems and i don't know b/c i've had it for a while (damn me for selling my WD!!)
No one's saying all Maxtors are bad, in fact many get awards and praise from a bunch of mags I get so they're a respected brand. It's just you always hear about the few people that have them dye right off the bat compaired to those that use them every day without a hitch. I wouldn't worry about it man, yeah so Seagate, WD, and perhaps Hitachi have a little better rep on the consumer side of things but otherwise you'll be fine so long as you don't hear any clicking noise
Yeah was thrilled to bits, when i found out that my newly purchased Maxtor Sata,and my newly purchased nForce 4 mobo, may not like each other.Oh well im at the early stages of building my new system so maybe by the time its finished, Maxtor will have fixed it.
