Purchase an IDE or Sata?

Mikesoft · 14 Jul 2006 at 16:09

Well I need a new hard drive since I am running out of space on the one I already have. Currently I have a Western Digital 80Gb IDE HD. I would like to install a second HD in this machine with it. However should I buy an IDE or a sata hard drive? My motherboard can take both and I am unsure which type of drive I should purchase.

Thanks,
Mike

smids · 14 Jul 2006 at 16:42

I would personally always buy the latest tech i.e. SATA. It offers some features which aren't present on IDE drives and it would seem that SATA is becoming standard now - surely IDE doesn't have long left (1-2 years maybe).

Seagate 320GB 7200.10 - if you are looking about that size would be my drive of choice.

semi-pro waster · 14 Jul 2006 at 16:57

I'd go along with smids' view that you might as well buy SATA, the cabling is neater, it is theoretically faster(although whether you notice any actual difference between drives of the same specifications is doubtful) and the SATA ports on your motherboard are doing nothing else.

I don't think IDE will disappear quite as quickly as smids predicts though because most optical drives still use the interface although a lot of motherboards have dropped to one IDE port only so they are on their way out.

smids · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:05

Yeah bit hasty

- but we have begun to see the first SATA optical drives so it shouldn't be long now.

Mikesoft · 14 Jul 2006 at 18:17

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I might as well just go with sata. Is there any make of harddrive I should avoid?

smids · 14 Jul 2006 at 18:47

Personally, Maxtor. Their consumer branch has been relatively poor pf late. Seagate's are a good bet.

Greenlizard0 · 16 Jul 2006 at 02:58

smids said:
Yeah bit hasty - but we have begun to see the first SATA optical drives so it shouldn't be long now.

Can't wait tbh, even though I have braided cables I hate the giant IDE clunky thangs.

hp7909 · 16 Jul 2006 at 06:35

Jumped on to the SATA bandwagon soon as I got a compatible mobo, thanks in part to breaking a-few IDE pins :mad:

But make sure you do some 'research', more on your mobo than HD because you can encounter problems initially, e.g. drivers & what not :rolleyes:

Aim for the Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA). Very good drives, silent, reliable & at £43.50 is a steal.

If slightly larger budget then you definitely have to get the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) for £52.50 or the 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE) for £62.95, both featuring 'New Perpendicular Recording Technology' (see this).

EDIT:

greenlizard0 said:
Can't wait tbh, even though I have braided cables I hate the giant IDE clunky thangs.

Samsung SH-W163 16x16 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-076-SA)... here.