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My Mobo vs. SATA 3

SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' CanuckRegistered User regular
So I'm out of the loop on the latest hardware, and I'm looking into buying a new hard drive. I have an ASUS A8V mobo that says it has 2 "SATA connectors with RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD support". I'm loving the concept of the new Western Digital green drives (man, hard drives are *cheap* these days!), which are SATA 3. Can I connect one to my older mobo, or do they require some new kind of fancydancy connecter?

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Posts

  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    They're backwards compatible. They'll only run at SATA 2 speeds, but the mechanical drive isn't as fast as SATA 2's maximum anyway; SATA 3 exists because SSDs are getting faster than SATA 2 can handle.

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  • Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Daedalus wrote: »
    They're backwards compatible. They'll only run at SATA 2 speeds, but the mechanical drive isn't as fast as SATA 2's maximum anyway; SATA 3 exists because SSDs are getting faster than SATA 2 can handle.
    Quick question: what do you mean by "SATA 2" exactly?
    There is no such thing; or at least nothing so named: SATA interfaces are named according to their nominal maximum bandwidth, with the first and second generations being 1.5 and 3 Gbps respectively. The third generation of SATA drives and interfaces can connect at 6 Gbps nominal, but you won't find them in the shops at "I can't believe how cheap HDDs are" prices for some time yet.

    N.B. The Asus site says the A8V board supports SATA 3Gbps; the WD Green drive should not be a problem.

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  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    SATA II has always referred to 3Gbps SATA. 6Gbps SATA is not technically called SATA III, but everyone does anyway.

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