quick upgrade question

[Novex]

I am going to buy a new HDD and I had my eye on a Seagate ATA 160gb, but I just thought of a qustion before I purchase it. Would it be better (faster) to get the SATA?
I know it naturally is a bit faster, but my reasoning for the SATA is not the drive speed itself but the HDDs configurations.
I currently have a Seagate 120 gb, and CDRW. Wouldnt it be slower if I chained 2 HDDs together? Same with the CDRW?

I think it would be faster if it was with the CDRW if it wasnt active, but im not positive.

So would it be better to go with a SATA to avoid drive interference or save money and go with ATA?

[druidelder]

If you got the SATA drive, what would your configuration be? If you got the ATA how would it change? In ATA, if the drives are on seperate channels, there would be no slow down. What mobo do you have (does it have ATA and SATA or would you use a converter)? If two drives share the same channel, there will only be a slow down when you access both drives at the same time. I'm assuming your mobo has an SATA controller as well as an ATA controller, because with the converter you wouldn't see any performance increase from the drive (it would be limited by the ATA controller). Do you plan on leaving the 120 in there and adding the 160 or just replacing the 120?

[Heatsinkguy]

If you go with Serial-ATA(SATA), you would get Data Transfer rates of 150MB/s. With ATA you would get UPTO 133MB/s depending on the MODE the hardrive can handle.
Sata has Many Advantages over regular ATA:
1) There is no need for bulky IDE cables. SATA hardrives use small round cables.
2) Sata transfer data much faster and effieciently
3) Since Sata cables are small, they dont block ventilation in the case like IDE cables do.
The only disadvantage of SATA is, it is Costly, and the next generation of sata will be released..which if iam correct will not be compatible with current sata drives(correct me if iam wrong).

Before getting SATA drive, make sure you have a SATA controller card, or your motherboard supports dual channel SATA or more. Also SATA drives take different power cables and you will need a adpater if your hardrive didnt come with it.
Hope this helps, PM me if you have questions( I dont come into this "Storage" forum much)
Regards,
Dave

[deathman20]

Man now thats something new if that is true that SATA and SATAII arn't compatible. Hmmm makes me wonder if SATA II and SATA III will be compatible down the road.

[Heatsinkguy]

As i said Iam not sure, i was guessing about the compatibility which i stated clearly. Sorry about that.

[Novex]

Thanks for the replys guys,

I have the A7N8X Deluxe, supports 2 SATA drives.

Decided to go with the Seagate 160gb SATA 7200.7 from newegg for $143 and power adapter is only $3.

I was at work when I posted originally, and for some reason I forgot I have DVD-Rom also, so I would have to have both HDDs together which is somthing I dont want.

I would most likely use both at the same time.

Thanks for the help.

[Heatsinkguy]

put dvd rom, and cd rom on the ide cables, put the sata drive in the sata cable.
You have 2 sata slots, meaning you can have upto 2 sata hardrives.
You cannot connect cdrom/dvdrom to sata, nor can u raid them