SATA drives

[flw]

I just started working on a PC with a Sata drive today.

Other than the connections, what are some of the differences between it and a typical IDE interface drive? i.e. Maintenance, performatnce, special add on firmware and special partitions/mbr/OS setup etc...

And do they require updated software for traditional tasks such as format, partitioning or can they use traditional cmd line tools from MS windows for this?

 

[cpjust]

Well one thing I just found out the hard way is, if you don't have a floppy drive, you can't install Windows because Windows will ONLY search for SATA drivers on a floppy disk. Good job Microsoft!

 

[wahnula]

Every tech should have one of these (3) USB floppies suported by MS in their toolkit:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916196

...forget about the Sony but the mitsumi is everywhere and Teac/IBM is still available. I highly recommend investing in one before they're all gone...it will save hours when you have to re-format that XP SATA laptop and don't want to take the time to slipstream the F6 drivers into the Windows CD.

Speed is the main difference, serial transport versus parallel is faster, smaller wires allow better airflow, hot swappability is now an option, built in SATA RAID controllers reside in every board being made today, and lower price than IDE.

They use the same maintenance and tools as their IDE, EIDE, SCSI, and SAS cousins. While it is tempting to use the onboard SATA controller, studies have shown you will get much better performance from an add-in RAID card.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me