New comp- Hard drive Q's

Synesthesia

Synesthesia

New Member
Okay, I'm just starting to get the parts for my new computer build. Its a MSI platinum P6N, 2 X 2gig OCZ Reaper ram, Zero Therm heat sink, 2.6 Ghz core 2 duo, 250 gig sata 2 HD, Thermaltake Tsunami Dream, Sound Blaster Audigy 2, MSI stock overclock 8800 GT.

Heres the thing, the new hard drive is "Sata 2" and I wanted to know whether my current HD was the same (I got it about 3 years ago). I looked my HD up and multiple websites stated that it has a 100 MB/s transfer rate!!! WHAT IS THIS, theres no way this new hard drive is 30X faster than my current one. The current one is a Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JD.

This Western digital is SATA though, due to the interface, so I can't imagine it having under a 1.5 GB/s transfer rate; but still, if I put the operating system, and not just my games and other high demand things on the new HD, would I see a performance increase? I saw a post that said that it is hard to clone an HD, and that you have to use a special program; but the link that was there led to a program that claimed to only be able to clone 5 gig's, thats not enough to copy the os, is it?

Thanks; any advice related to this build would be appreciated.
 
Your current hard drive is likely a PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment). Can you give us the specifications of your current hard drive?
 
Heres the thing, the new hard drive is "Sata 2" and I wanted to know whether my current HD was the same (I got it about 3 years ago). I looked my HD up and multiple websites stated that it has a 100 MB/s transfer rate!!! WHAT IS THIS, theres no way this new hard drive is 30X faster than my current one. The current one is a Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JD.
Click to expand...

100MB/Sec is IDE. Open your case and look at your drive and the ribbon connecting it to the MoBo; it's very big and bulky compared to SATA cables. SATA cables are thinner and offer better data transmission, which means you'll have more airflow in your case and better system performance.

SATA is capable of speeds up to 1.5GB/Sec; SATA II is/will be capable of up to 3.0GB/Sec. However, with current limitations, the full speed of SATA II is not fully seen at this time. That being said, get SATA II anyway as it's only $1-2 more. If you go from SATA to SATA II, you will most likely not see a performance increase, but IDE to any SATA-type will yield excellent results.
 
It has a small thin connection; I got a Sata 2 cable along with the new hard drive and compared it to the current hard drive connection, and it's exactly the same.

I don't any more about it than can be seen in the google links. Also, I couldn't find the exact same product number on google, so, I'm not sure if the specs I read are correct; the only model I could find that is close to the current ones number is off by one letter at the end.

The Western digital HD was a replacement from Gateway after the one before it broke; maybe it's a custom one from Gateway? (I know, I bought a computer already made, but that was a while ago!)
 
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