quick and easy sata vs. ide question(s) :)

tb2000 · 11 Dec 2006 at 20:26

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding SATA vs. IDE, and thought I would ask here as I can't seem to find a definitive answer via searching (unless I'm missing something). Can't make up my mind really about it all.

I am looking to get a new HDD, as the one I currently have I want to use in a set-up in my arcade machine at some point. I currently use a 120GB Seagate Barracuda IDE model plugged into an Abit AV8 with an Opteron 146 running Win98SE (yeah I know i'm a bit behind on the operating system but it's done me fine for years until now, it's just starting to look like needing to be reinstalled!

).
I was looking at getting another 120GB, possibly 160GB IDE but then I saw the SATA (I presume they are all SATA II drives now) drives and thought I might be better off with one of those. Thing is, are they as easy to install Windows on as IDE? I mean just plug in and go - i'll be putting on Windows XP now. I know I can make it NTFS and all that, but will I really see a speed difference? I play the odd game (very) occasionally, but I do use it to watch avi files and more than anything else I use a lot of emulators on it. I presume by what I read that these SATA II drives are backwards compatible with SATA I so I can use it on my current set-up and also keep it if I upgrade the boards, etc?
Many thanks

rpstewart · 11 Dec 2006 at 20:50

SATA should be as easy to install on as IDE but older boards can be a bit of a pain in the rear because most of them need a driver floppy for the SATA controller which you need to feed to the XP install to allow it to recognise the SATA controller. Off the top of my head I can't remember if an AV8 falls into this category.

You'll see a speed difference, not because the drive is SATA but because it's newer technology. Newer drives tend to have higher storage densities and hence better transfer rates.

SATA2 is backwards compatible with SATA1, you may have to set a jumper on the drive to force it to SATA1 of you get problems.

SATA is the correct way to go if you're considering upgrading, the top end Intel chipsets no longer feature IDE ports.

tb2000 · 11 Dec 2006 at 21:24

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I have had a look at the manual and I've noticed a number of things, for starters it says I need to have it set to boot from a "bootable add-in device". So I presume by this then that the SATA drives are classed as removable, like a USB drive :confused:

? Also, it says to boot from the "Onchip SATA raid", by this I assume it means it can handle both a SATA set-up and a RAID array?
I see under the IDE section it says "SATA RAID rom" enabled or disabled, it says this allows me to use the "boot ROM of the on-chip serial ATA RAID to boot-up system". So by this I assume it to mean I can plug in and go? What does confuse me is that it the manual shows installing a SATA RAID driver once Windows is installed same as the USB drive, etc. Is this the same as these other drivers or should Windows be fine without it? I would think it's like the VIA IDE driver I had to install in WIN98?

Many thanks again

rpstewart · 11 Dec 2006 at 21:42

OK, it's an early SATA implementation... <rant> Why the heck did folk have to make the first SATA controllers so bloomin complex, all it's done is confuse folk. SATA is just IDE is serial rather than parallel! So why did we get forced to deal with RAID & drivers and all that malarky. </rant>

Sorry about that back to the topic....

Some SATA implementations will show as a removeable device, which is technically correct because the SATA standard allows for hot swapping of devices. The fact that it's showing as "bootable add-in device" is due to the SATA controller being attached to the system either on the PCI bus or something similar rather than being integrated into the chipset like the IDE controller.

The reference to SATA RAID goes back to my wee rant. All these early add on SATA controllers included RAID functionality over SATA, since you'll likely only have 2 ports you have the option of running a 2 disk RAID array or 2 single disks, not a mix.

You'll be able to plug and go to a point. When you install windows you'll need to have the SATA controller drivers on a floppy and they need to be the right ones, sometimes you need different drivers if the controller is in RAID mode or not. When you start the setup you'll be prompted to press F6 to install additional storage drivers - you need to do this. Later you'll be asked to press S to install the drivers for real, stick the floppy in and pick the drivers from the list if prompted. The setup should then continue as normal.

Once Windows is installed there will be the usual pile of unrecognised devices in device manager, including the SATA controller. All the drivers you need should be on the CD that came with the board although there are bound to be newer versions of some, if not all, of them on the Abit site.