Price Guides, October 2005: Storage
by Jarred Walton & Haider Farhan on October 15, 2005 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
SATA – 1.5Gbps
The real world difference in performance between SATA 3.0Gbps and SATA 1.5Gbps is difficult to gauge. In our initial tests, it was faster in some applications and slower in others. Depending on price and other features, SATA 1.5Gbps drives are still worth purchasing. We have a fairly nice deal on a Maxtor 160GB with a 16MB cache [RTPE: 6B250S0] for $0.40 per GB, totaling $99.00 shipped. Maxtor's drives aren't necessarily the quietest out there, but performance of the 16MB cache models is very good. Nevertheless, we’ve witnessed a steady decline in price with this particular Maxtor hard drive, which you can clearly see from this chart:
We found that TigerDirect is running a $60 rebate on the Seagate 300GB Barracuda [RTPE: ST3300831AS], bringing the price down to $103.00 shipped. With the rebate, that gives an incredible cost of just $0.34/GB, though it's only a mediocre $0.51/GB without the MIR. The Seagate drives are well regarded in the computing community and come with a standard 5-year warranty, and this is the cheapest price that we’ve seen on this drive. You also get NCQ, so the only thing that you're missing relative to the 7200.9 model is support for higher burst rates and more cache.
The real world difference in performance between SATA 3.0Gbps and SATA 1.5Gbps is difficult to gauge. In our initial tests, it was faster in some applications and slower in others. Depending on price and other features, SATA 1.5Gbps drives are still worth purchasing. We have a fairly nice deal on a Maxtor 160GB with a 16MB cache [RTPE: 6B250S0] for $0.40 per GB, totaling $99.00 shipped. Maxtor's drives aren't necessarily the quietest out there, but performance of the 16MB cache models is very good. Nevertheless, we’ve witnessed a steady decline in price with this particular Maxtor hard drive, which you can clearly see from this chart:
Maxtor 1.5Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10
We found that TigerDirect is running a $60 rebate on the Seagate 300GB Barracuda [RTPE: ST3300831AS], bringing the price down to $103.00 shipped. With the rebate, that gives an incredible cost of just $0.34/GB, though it's only a mediocre $0.51/GB without the MIR. The Seagate drives are well regarded in the computing community and come with a standard 5-year warranty, and this is the cheapest price that we’ve seen on this drive. You also get NCQ, so the only thing that you're missing relative to the 7200.9 model is support for higher burst rates and more cache.
Seagate 1.5Gbps 300GB 7200RPM 8MB Barracuda 7200.8
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JarredWalton - Saturday, October 15, 2005 - link
Smaller cables, and on many chipsets slightly faster performance. Overall, it's not enough that I'd really upgrade to SATA (i.e. get rid of a PATA drive for an SATA). However, I'd purchase SATA if buying new, unless there was an awesome deal on a PATA drive. Many intel motherboards, for example, only come with one PATA connection, so you'd max out at a DVDR and a single HDD.mongoosesRawesome - Sunday, October 16, 2005 - link
another reason I am hesitant to go with SATA with a new build is that you need a floppy drive to install the SATA drivers.I've heard of using USB keys or CDs to install the drivers. Anyone have a link on how to do this?
Whenever I recommend new systems to people, I always suggest PATA, because its cheaper and they don't have to worry about obtaining a floppy drive in the future if they ever have to reformat.
While the cables are nice and thin, ive also heard of cables falling out, because the attachment system isn't very secure.
PrinceGaz - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link
I didn't need any SATA drivers to install Windows XP SP2 on my SATA drive connected to an nForce4 SATA channel. The box doesn't even have a floppy drive.mongoosesRawesome - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link
oh. somehow i was under the impression that all SATA controllers required drivers from a floppy.btw, I've already gotten my rebates. i purchased the drive sometime in early september.
bob661 - Sunday, October 16, 2005 - link
Both of my computers run SATA with no floppy drives. Whether or not you need a floppy to install drivers depends on the the SATA controller.photoguy99 - Sunday, October 16, 2005 - link
Most motherboards do not need a special driver for SATA.There is no reason not to use it in a new system. Less cable mass, simpler configuration, etc.
ProviaFan - Saturday, October 15, 2005 - link
I've been under the impression that it's best not to run an optical drive and a hard disk on the same IDE channel, as well. Maybe it isn't the case with newer optical drives, but if true, it's definitely another reason to prefer SATA drives on a mainboard with only one IDE connection.