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General discussion

internal hardrive Interface types, which is better

Aug 15, 2006 3:48PM PDT

ATA, ATA/100, ATA/133, ATA/33, SATA-150, SATA-300
someone please tell me which is what and what they do.
p.s. my computer is new and i think it has sata which one is best.

Discussion is locked

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one more thing
Aug 15, 2006 3:50PM PDT

what 250gb hard drive (sata) do you recomend??

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Sata-300. Western Digital.
Aug 18, 2006 10:50AM PDT

SATA-300 is the most recent interface. It is the fastest.

I recommend the Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB hard drive. It is an internal hard drive. It is 7200RPM, and has 16MB cache. The model number is WD2500KS for OEM version and WD2500KSRTL for retail version. You can buy this at newegg.com. I just started using this drive this week and it is inside my external enclosure.

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SATA-300
Aug 15, 2006 10:39PM PDT

As to definition, since we have WIKIPEDIA and GOOGLE.COM I'll exit here rather than duplicate web content in this small space.

Bob

PS. Not all machines will have the fastest interface or will have but not the matching drive.

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SATA-300 is best.
Aug 17, 2006 8:45PM PDT

ATA was the original standard for Advanced Technology Attachment, or how to get data to the hard drive. ATA/100, ATA/133, and ATA/33 are all derivations of the original ATA standard, in other words, they represent the PATA system which is probably what you're most used to, the grey flat ribbon connecting your computer to the hard drives.

SATA, or Serial ATA, is the next generation of the ATA standard and only uses (6, or 8 wires, i'd have to look :b) and the numbers after it deal with how many MB/s it can transmit, so, SATA-150 tops out at 150MB/s transfer speed, where SATA-300 tops at 300MB/s. Hence, its better!

As to the best 250GB SATA drive; I'd recommend Seagate's NL35 series drives, but thats just because I'm a diehard Seagate fan; really, unless you're looking for a Raptor (WD) or Barracuda (SG) drive which have awesomely fast response times. Depends on what you're going to do with it really. But, the NL35 Series of drives would serve you fine so long as you're not a pro gamer, or graphics professional with need for seriously fast response times.