PATA vs SATA. is it really necessary?

[ghsrocketman]

Am I right in thinking that current SATA have about the same transfer rates as the PATA harddrives? I remember reading somewhere that although SATA allows for higher transfer rates, the hardware itself can't go that high (just like how USB 2.0 is advertised as being able to transfer X gigs/sec, but USB drives can only do about 8mb/sec).

Also, what are the advantages of having a faster harddrive? Is it necessary? Noticeable?

[glc]

It's not really necessary, but it's a LOT neater installation.

[patrickt]

I'm not a geek but the SATA drives can use longer cables for external devices, are hot-swappable, use a 1/4" cable instead of a 2" cable, and have better error checking. No jumpers are needed which I think is a plus.

Hardrives are frequently the major speed bottleneck on my computers.

[TwoRails]

Is there an underlying reason for the question? Like are you planning to add / change a drive? If so, and you are happy with the current speed of a PATA drive, no, there is no compelling reason to "have to" go SATA. If your current mobo supports SATA, then it would be a good choice to go with for possible future use / expansion.

Early SATA drives had no performance increase (to speak of). Newer SATA drives are faster but necessarily due to the mechanics; it's more due to other technologica advancements such as NCQ and larger (16MB) caches found on some models.

[ghsrocketman]

Originally Posted by TwoRails Is there an underlying reason for the question? Like are you planning to add / change a drive? If so, and you are happy with the current speed of a PATA drive, no, there is no compelling reason to "have to" go SATA. If your current mobo supports SATA, then it would be a good choice to go with for possible future use / expansion.

Yea, I can get a free new 250gig PATA harddrive from a family friend, and I was just wondering if it would be worth the money to also buy a SATA drive.

What kind of performance increase are we talking about? When would you need (or desire) a faster harddrive?

[Don Soriano]

I installed a SATA 36G Raptor (10K RPM). Would that make any difference in performance? I have two other PATAs. What programs would be appropriate for the SATA to benefit from its performance. Should I transfer the OS (WINxp) to SATA?

Don

[TwoRails]

Originally Posted by ghsrocketman Yea, I can get a free new 250gig PATA harddrive from a family friend, and I was just wondering if it would be worth the money to also buy a SATA drive. What kind of performance increase are we talking about? When would you need (or desire) a faster harddrive?

The first question really depend on your uses. If you just do mostly emails and office type stuff, you may or may not need more room. If you're into (or will be into) such things as photo editing, movie making, etc., you'll most likely need the extra room.

For the second part, faster is always better IMHO, but when you say "need" it kinda opens another door. Unless you're going to be a server or the like, current desktop drives are as fast as you "need." For example, modern drives are way faster than you need for video capturing and editing. Fast is nice, though, for everyday program loading and the like. Will you "see" a difference? Most likely not, especally if it's just an email / Web surfing box.

I've posted a lot of drive benchmarks in the past, and I'll have to redo them as I've just ordered a new SATA drive (Maxtor, of course ) and will be running more current benchmarks. My other SATA drive is an early version and, if I remember right, was not very impressive over my PATA drives (also Maxtor).

TR