Can I usage one hard drive like a serial ATA device?

[firelex]

Hello all!
The situation is:
I've bought a new mainboard (Asus A7N8X) is has two serial ATA ports for RAID (so much have I understood).
So the question is:
If I connect only one hard drive to ATA, without creating RAID-system, and do not connect anything to IDE slots will it work?
I mean I was told, that ATA works faster than normal IDE-devices...

Thanx

 

[franklin97355]

I don't know the answer to your SATA question, that would, in part, depend on the motherboard. But I would consider your applications to determin if you need the speed advantage the SATA drive would give you over a standard ATA drive. Just because there is new technology out there does not mean we NEED it.

 

[paparazi]

What speed advantage?
In reviews there is little or no differance between current SATA and the fastest ATA's "fact" but obviously if you are in the market for a new drive, AND there is little differance in price "where you are" then SATA is the way to go, on the other hand, if you are paying 15-25% more for SATA then it's just not worth it "at this time" doughtless to say SATA drives will get faster and there will be a tangable differance in speed.
Ignore the ATA100/133 versa's SATA150 lable, these are the maximum theoretical data transfer rates that each particular connection can carry, in reality there is little differance. A bit like a speedometer on a car, just because it says 160mph doesn't mean it can actually do that speed :>)
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[firelex]

Thanx paparazi!
It was not the answer to my question, but very informative.

 

[Fishguy]

I have no experience with that motherboard or SATA hard drives, but I would imagine that there is a BIOS setting you can change to boot off of a single SATA drive.
Because honestly, why would they put them there if you had to use both or nothing...that is just dumb. I say give it a try if you feel so inclined. But paparazi does have a good point; at this point in time, SATA offers little to no performance increase over regular old IDE drives.

And if the single SATA drive doesn't work out, then make sure that you buy your parts from a store that does exchanges and swap it for an IDE drive.

...just my 2 cents

-----------------------
Fishguy

 

[paparazi]

firelex
I thought I was answering your question indirectly.
Your last line said "I mean I was told that serial ATA is faster than normal IDE devices"
So I guess that is why you were asking the first question.
Yes, I'm pretty sure you can boot from a single SATA drive, I kinda remember a colleage doing this on a recent build and presumably when boards have fully gone over to SATA (no traditional IDE connections) they will obviously have to.
Martin


Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Bozz]

Yes you can use just one drive, I'm writing this on a PC doing just that on an Abit board. Remember to put the driver disk in when W2K/XP asks during its initial setup.

SATA is worth it just to get rid of the clutter of cables inside the PC if nothing else.

Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd