Sata I vs II

[darkorb]

would i see a big difference (worth the $90 ) of swapping to a Sata II HD?

i only play games


I have a ST3250823AS

i wanted to get a http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010282&cid=HD.443.877

320gb Seagate

[sushrukh]

Sata II is better compared to a Sata I in many ways.Beside performing better in games,your boot times will be lower,file movement will be much faster,applications or games will load faster,NCQ & Hot plug support but is it worth the upgrade or no ? Well,it depends on you,how will you find it.For me, it is " Yes " .

This specific 7200.10 drive you've mentioned, supports PR.So, it should provide you good results but i personally would have preferred to buy a Hitachi.

[darkorb]

i thought the .10 drivers were the newest/best?

[sushrukh]

i thought the .10 drivers were the newest/best?

Actually 7200.11 drives are here now.

You can dwld 2 small PDF files about the .11 here :-http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_barracuda_7200_11.pdf

& http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/marketing/po_barracuda_7200_11.pdf

The .11 series starts with the 500GB.This series currently has 500GB,750GB & 1TB drives.If you want to buy the 320GB,you'll have to buy the little older .10 series HDD.

[darkorb]

whast the difference between the two?

i dont want 500gb, but if its faster, ill have to get it, but if im spending that much, why not get a 150gb raptor 15k?

[sushrukh]

If you only need the speed & you won't mind the little space & spending extra,then get a Raptor.If you think,that you can use a faster than other Seagates (but slower than Raptors & 15K SCSI drives) HDD with loads of space,you can consider buying the .11 based ST3500320AS which has 32MB of buffer memory.I couldn't find any review of the 500GB .11 right now maybe because it's new.And btw,Raptors are 10K,not 15K my friend.

[slugbug]

500gb drives are the best buy right now at around $120Cdn. A 150GB raptor will cost twice that much. Raptors are 10k rpm, not 15k.

Check the prices at ncix.com or directcanada.com

[darkorb]

i usually buy from canadacomputers.com, since the shipping from NCIX totally cancels out the price that i save

i wana spend like $120 max. ill put all my games/os on the HD, and have a secondary for music so it doesnt waste space, unless i get the 500/320gb HD's (that was only for the raptor)

[sushrukh]

Well then you'll have to buy the .10 because the price of the 500GB .11 are varying from $167-$200 in various e-Tailers now.

Or if you want to buy from Hitachi or WD,then

1.Hitachi 500GB SataII 16MB :- http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013168&cid=HD.443.877 $115.99

or 2. WD 500GB SataII 16MB :- http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010671&cid=HD.443.877 $112.89

If you wanna stick to Seagate,then this 500GB Seagate will come around your budget but this will be a .10 or older generation drive.

Seagate ST3500630AS 500GB Sata II 16MB :- http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010785&cid=HD.443.877 $121.99

[darkorb]

is the .11 better than the hitachi and WD u mentioned?

[sushrukh]

It should be at the level of the Hitachi & WD but is way too pricey than these two ($60-$85 more than these two).I can't say much about the .11 now Dark coz these .11 series are very new & there are no reviews/comparisons on them yet.

[werty316]

Out of the two I would opt for the WD.

Key features and benefits of the 7200.11 HDs:

* Proven second-generation perpendicular recording technology
* Massive capacities of 1 TB, 750 GB and 500 GB
* Up to 32-MB Cache
* Fast SATA 3Gb/s NCQ interface
* Speedy performance at 105Mb/s sustained data rate

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/desktops/barracuda_hard_drives/barracuda_7200.11/

[darkorb]

32mb cache eh? i might just wait for those then i guess

any idea when those are hitting the shelves?

[werty316]

Not sure but it should be quite soons sincve they have them listed on their website.

[darkorb]

you think i should wait for it then?

i was planning on getting the HD tomrow and vista also

[darkorb]

i was thinking,

i also have a WD 80GB HD Sata II.

can i install my OS on that? And then use the HD im ognna buy tomorow, 250/320gb Hitachi WD as my game/music/storage drive? i dont feel like waiting for those Seagates. and ill use my 250gb (current) in teh server

[darkorb]

is there any way in vista, to have my 80gb as my OS, and instead of when i open my documents and such to open the 80gb, can i set it to the 320gb?

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2420/seeagate250zm3.th.jpg (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=seeagate250zm3.jpg)

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1557/wd80gbpw7.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wd80gbpw7.jpg)

[darkorb]

from the two pics, it looks like the sata i drive, the 250gb seagate is faster than the sata ii wd 80gb.

which should i keep for my os? either of those or a new 250/320gb WD sata II drive?

[Xero (1)ne]

Whoh, slow down there tiger. :ahhhhh:

is there any way in vista, to have my 80gb as my OS, and instead of when i open my documents and such to open the 80gb, can i set it to the 320gb?

Yes there is although I don't remember how. I do believe it involves registry tweaking though.

[sushrukh]

from the two pics, it looks like the sata i drive, the 250gb seagate is faster than the sata ii wd 80gb.


You can't compare an 80GB to a 250GB Dark.When the drive's capacity increases,then the Areal Density of the platters also increases.So, a more capacity drive will always perform better than a lower capacity drive.And for the .11,i've already said that it's out already with a price tag of $167-$200 but it's not available yet with your Canadacomputers.So,i think, just pickup the Hitachi or WD & i can assure,you won't be disappointed my friend.My personal favourite is Hitachi though.I donno you should get a 500GB .11 by paying $200 or not.It's just too much for me.

which should i keep for my os? either of those or a new 250/320gb WD sata II drive?

You should always install the OS on the faster drive you have.So, install the OS on your new HDD,because that'll obviously be faster than your current HDDs.

[PP Mguire]

You should always install the OS on the faster drive you have.So, install the OS on your new HDD,because that'll obviously be faster than your current HDDs.You should always install the OS on the faster drive you have.So, install the OS on your new HDD,because that'll obviously be faster than your current HDDs.

In this case he wants to have all of his important files on the bigger drive (which will most likely be the faster one) so that way there if Vista screws up like it always has for me he can format without losing his data. My personal opinion, get w/e is the bigger bang for the buck. Im probably buying a Maxtor 500gig SATA2 for 99 bucks tomorrow. If they still have the sale going on.

[darkorb]

i wanted to have the OS on either the 80gb or 250gb, and my music/games/files/everything on the new one.

what do u guys think i should do?

thanks alot !

[sushrukh]

For me, if you can keep the OS on the faster drive,it would have been better,otherwise keep it on the next faster drive i.e. on your 250GB Seagate but remember your boot times & the application load times will be same (slower) .

[darkorb]

the whole idea of me reformatting (i hate doing it) is to swap to vista (yea yea, laugh at me) and also for my games and such to load quicker

because in CSS, or any other game, i no my hardware is more than enough to load the game/and join games fast. and the only thing i can see holding me back woujld be my harddrive, since its sata I.

so i am giongg to buy a 250/320gb WD/Hitachi drive thats Sata II.

ughhh im in a pickle right now lol

could i put my OS on the new drive, then put my games and such on the older Sata I? I could, but then again i wouldnt be gaining anything

i could buy a 36gb Raptor, but then again my games/music drive would be slow

come to think of it, i cannot install my OS on the 250gb drive, as all my files are on there. games/music etc..

so i suppose ill install my OS on the smaller 80gb, and buy a 500gb WD for $109.
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010671&cid=HD.96

[Scott]

With your budget get the Seagate 320GB. If you want to boot of the 80GB you can. But I would do it the other way around. Boot off the 320GB. Use it since it is faster for the OS and games.

You can keep data (documents, pictures, music and such) on the 80GB if you want. Here is a URL on how to move the folders.

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=1371

What would I do if I was you? Well if you could afford to get 2 of the 320GB's I would and set up a RAID 1. In the coarse of the install tell it not to use the entire drive. Setup a C: 200GB and D as the rest.

Then after getting it all setup do the above for documents. This lets you have your documents on a seperate partion in case you ever want to reload your OS you do not lose them and the RAID 1 gives you fault tolerance. Of coarse this is what I would do.

Admin.

[darkorb]

Thanks alot for that Scott. Raid would be too hard for me to do (never done it before) and i wouldnt wana spend that much for both drives, didnt want this to be a MAJOR overhaul.

Is the speed of the 320gb seagate alot slower than the 500gb/320gb WD? I can use the new drive (either of those two) to install my os and games, and i can just use the 80gb for backup of the most important files. Pictures/music/work etc..

Wow thanks alot guys! I think i am set!

[Scott]

No the Seagate is not slower. The thing to remember is to remove the jumper on the drive. So many endusers and reviewers did not know to do that it made the drives not look fast.

I even corrected the guys at ExtremeTech.

Here is the review, 3 days later they worte a front page correction but never corrected the review. They left the jumper in SATA 1 mode.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1959264,00.asp

This review is not flattering, but afterwards front page was. You still may want to read it about the drives. My burst rate is about 250 and sustained is in the 80's to 90's

[darkorb]

Thanks alot Scott. I doubt mine even has a jumper, since in HD Tune it doesnt say Sata II support.

I suppose that even in the end, between the WD and Seagate, the difference is very small. I can't use my 250gb drive since it has all my data stored onto it. I will just get either the WD 500gb for $109, or the Seagate 320gb for $83. and then just use my 80GB as my backup drive. I wouldnt want to mix in the SataII drives with my slower 250gb Sata I, although it does prove to be faster than the Sata II drive somehow :S

[Acidtears33]

A great way to improve the performance of the computer as a whole is to install the OS on one physical drive and then on the other drive install anything that loads at startup.

i.e. Antivirus software, quicktime, utilities, etc.

Windows is busy enough loading drivers and such and for programs to try to do their things really bogs down the system.

When I started separating my OS from my programs my PC really got more peppy.

[darkorb]

so i shouldnt install my OS onto the 320gb with all my music/videos/games/files etc..?

[Scott]

I would just like I said. Make 2 partions a C and D and put documents, music and junk on D

[Ranzear]

As Scott said, you'd be better off with a pair of 7200.10 320gig Seagates for about $70 each and running them in RAID... my flavor is Raid 0 though for the full capacity. They'll be faster than anything and larger than anything in 0.

Anybody that says striping is dangerous need only consider that if you run one drive and it fails, you lose everything anyway. Plus, if the odds of one drive failing are 1 in 10, the odds of any drive in an array failing are still 1 in 10.

[darkorb]

so i would install vista first, and then through windows partition that area off?

[PP Mguire]

AS for your original idea i look at it this way. My games drive is still on an ATA133 HD and its running at DMA5 which is ATA100. Its boot up time is still faster than my SATA drive because all it is, is games. The funniest part is the slowest HD i have in use is in my laptop. a 5400rpm ATA100 60gig. And it boots up faster than anything i have in this house sadly. Honestly, since your dealing with all SATA drives i doubt youll see a difference really between a clean install on any of them. I say do whatever is easier for you to do and for you to get the best bang outa your buck without having to overhaul with anything.

[darkorb]

im gonna buy either WD 500gb

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23266&vpn=WD5000AAKS&manufacture=Western%20Digital&promoid=1051

or the Seagate one

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18413&vpn=ST3500630AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1051

and then just install Vista onto it, and then make a partition of 50GB for the OS, i think thats resonable.

also, im gonna be buying X-FI soundcard
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23250&promoid=1051

and this http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=22438&promoid=1051

There goes all meee money


which sound card is good for $50-70?
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=1007

[Ranzear]

im gonna buy either WD 500gb

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23266&vpn=WD5000AAKS&manufacture=Western%20Digital&promoid=1051

or the Seagate one

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18413&vpn=ST3500630AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1051

The 7200.10 is a superior drive.
and then just install Vista onto it, and then make a partition of 50GB for the OS, i think thats resonable.

I do hope you do those in the opposite order.
also, im gonna be buying X-FI soundcard
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23250&promoid=1051

and this http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=22438&promoid=1051

There goes all meee money

which sound card is good for $50-70?
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=1007
The onboard on your ASUS mobo is likely better than anything in that price range (SoundMAX 7.1 on my M2N32), and the X-Fi is snake oil anyway since its still digital processing trash.

[darkorb]

ok, im gonna go for the 7200.10, 320gb, get dual of those and go raid 0!

i need help though

i checked my bios, and it says this for teh raid section

Ide Primary Master
Ide Primary Slave
Ide Secondary Master
Ide Secondary Slave
First Sata Master
Seconond Sata Master
Third Sata master
Fourth Sata MAster.

any ideas?

[PP Mguire]

The onboard on your ASUS mobo is likely better than anything in that price range (SoundMAX 7.1 on my M2N32), and the X-Fi is snake oil anyway since its still digital processing trash.I agree, and to add onto that, dont they still have crap for Vista drivers?

[darkorb]

Yea i remembered that tooo.

Not goig for the sound card, just vista home premium 64bit ($120) and Seagate 500gb $115.

Thansk everyone!

im gonna pop it in this rig, make the partition of 80gb for the OS, and then load vista on this badboy

[PP Mguire]

Then the 250 for your server (? never told me bout a server dude)? Sounds like a plan.

[darkorb]

Its gonna be a CS server, not sure how great it will run though.

Anywho i ordered,

Seagate 7200.10 500GB Sata 2 drive, $115
Microsoft Windows Vista home premium 64bit $119
AuzenTech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS $84.99

[sushrukh]

Congrats on your new parts in advance.Keep us updated how they perform & maybe some pics. :)

[PP Mguire]

Aye tell me how that sound card goes dude. If its anything like Frag was squaking about i might get one.