To Serial ATA or not to Serial ATA
 

Guys,

I am going to get a new hard drive. And I cant make my mind up. Do you guys think that serial ata is worth the extra expense, or plain ata is fast enough. I would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks.

Difficult question to answer if you ask me.

It largely depends on the intended use. If you're going to do HQ vid capturing, you can't get a drive too fast so go for it!

If you're just a gamer, like me, plain ata is fast enough.

Other advantages of SATA are longer cables and better airflow inside the case.
Once again, it is up to your situation how heavy those advantages count.

Good luck!

The real answer:

Makes NO difference right now. SATA is only _AS FAST_ as ATA133
In the future, SATA intends to reach 300mb/s and 600mb/s .. so it will be a performance increase _IN THE FUTURE_

The only real benefit for upgrading right away would be the improved air-flow in your case.

PS: You _CAN_ get ATA to SATA adapters which fit on your _existing_ hard-drives to make them SATA compatible.

I agree with you mostly except the quoted part...
I quote from this online source:
http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/satacuda/10.shtml

There is performance increase to be had for real demanding applications. To be honest this also requires a very potent system overall and is likely only applicable in few cases. But there are certainly situations where SATA can be considered...

If you're a regular gamer: just stick to plain ATA (parallel ATA)

Cheers, thanks guys........ looks like plain ATA for this fella....

C'mon folks? Nobody is going to mention Western Digital Raptors?

Serial ATA, 10000RPM, 8mb buffer, 5 yr warranty :D

Unfortunately, they're only 36GB and they cost ~$150.

Which is exactly why I didn't mention them... :)
For the record there is a review at www.tomshardware.com for those interested...

For the time being, SATA can't go faster than ATA/133 in -most- systems - because even though SATA's controller-to-disk speed is 150 mbytes/sec, a 32-bit, 33MHz PCI slot is only CAPABLE of 132mbytes/sec throughput!

If you have server grade hardware and are using, for example, a 3Ware 8500 series controller which is a 64-bit 66MHz card...you're going to get all kinds of performance out of it...even though Adaptec accuses 3Ware of not using 'native SATA' ASICs...

At work we've started playing with Raptor drives on 3Ware and on-board controllers and they haul azz...but SCSI is still king when it comes to high performance under heavy load.

If you are going to get a serial ATA get the Seagate. They are the only true serial drives. Everbody else just moded thier boards with no change to the heads or disc.

Anyone used a PCI SATA Card? What'd you think?

I have one running my 120 GB Seagate and my 160 GB Maxtor. There is no noticable difference in transfer rates or access. Works like a charm. There is a diagnostic self-check or something when you turn your computer on though, it just checks to see what's connected to the PCI card, so it slows your boot down a little bit, but it's all good overall. I have a 20 GB Western Digital, 80 GB IBM, 120 GB Seagate, and a 160 GB Maxtor, all 7200 RPM. They all work together like a team :D

Groovy, I've got an PCI IDE Controller card for my Disk Caddy and that works like a charm, good to know that the SATA ones do too :) Thanks Redjake.

i woudn't get one
 

the bandwidth on even an ata100 drive is big enough to fit like 3 drives on it... i'ts like expanding a four lane freeway to like 16 lanes... your still only one car on an empty freeway.... if you were doing like 4 or 5 drives in a raid config... then maybe.