computermaineack
New Member
Is a SATA 3Gb/s backwards compatible with SATA150? My mobo has SATA150, but not SATA 3.0. If I buy a SATA 3.0 HDD, will it work with my mobo?
Thanks.
Thanks.
SATA 3.0Gb/s backwards compatible
- Thread starter computermaineack
- Start date
Yes, it will work, just not as fast as it's suppose to.
EDIT:
Just incase you need some feedback.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=28268
EDIT:
Just incase you need some feedback.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=28268
Last edited:
Ok.. Look at it this way if you would. Picture a pond and a waterwheel on one end. The waterwheel is feeding water into a pipe. On the other side there is a broad river. The waterwheel can obviously only feed the pipe so fast. The pipe never fills up to capacity because the waterwheel doesn't turn fast enough. In order to do it, you need a much bigger waterwheel turning much faster.
So it is with SATA. The platters spin at 7200 RPM. While they spin, the read/write heads scurry across the platters on arms like a record player looking for the data. When the heads find the data, they pick it up magnetically and transfer the data to the cache on the drive.. Then it goes looking for the rest of it. When the computer demands the data, or when the cache is full, it is dumped through the HDD interface and onto the BUS where it is carried up through the Northbridge and into the processor (PATA drives go through the Southbridge, then the Northbridge).
The SATA 150 spec can achieve a maximum burst speed of 150MB/s. Theoretically. However it can't maintain that because the drive can't get to the data fast enough to satisfy the computer's requirements, thus the buffer is never full. That's why these 16MB buffers and everything else are a giant crock of shit and nothing more than a marketting tool. A HDD needs no more than a 512kb buffer, but that wouldn't sell HDDs, would it.
Soooo.. You can have a 3GB/s bandwidth for all anyone cares, but it matters not if you can't continually feed it.
Hopefully you're with me so far.
Anyways, the way to get around this is by using a faster spindle speed (the Raptors do this for this reason) so that the HDD can find the data faster and dump it into cache quicker, and to consistently defrag your HDD and keep it organized.
So it is with SATA. The platters spin at 7200 RPM. While they spin, the read/write heads scurry across the platters on arms like a record player looking for the data. When the heads find the data, they pick it up magnetically and transfer the data to the cache on the drive.. Then it goes looking for the rest of it. When the computer demands the data, or when the cache is full, it is dumped through the HDD interface and onto the BUS where it is carried up through the Northbridge and into the processor (PATA drives go through the Southbridge, then the Northbridge).
The SATA 150 spec can achieve a maximum burst speed of 150MB/s. Theoretically. However it can't maintain that because the drive can't get to the data fast enough to satisfy the computer's requirements, thus the buffer is never full. That's why these 16MB buffers and everything else are a giant crock of shit and nothing more than a marketting tool. A HDD needs no more than a 512kb buffer, but that wouldn't sell HDDs, would it.
Soooo.. You can have a 3GB/s bandwidth for all anyone cares, but it matters not if you can't continually feed it.
Hopefully you're with me so far.
Anyways, the way to get around this is by using a faster spindle speed (the Raptors do this for this reason) so that the HDD can find the data faster and dump it into cache quicker, and to consistently defrag your HDD and keep it organized.
fade2green514
Active Member
backwards and forwards compatible... any mix gives sata150 speeds though.
Sorry bro. I wasn't inferring anything. See, it's practice. In my business I have to explain everything in simple terms so my clients can understand what I'm talking about. If I don't, it sails over their heads, they get confused and they aren't as eager to call me back next time. Many of my clients are laypeople. Computers are like a foreign language to them. 