SATA v. ATA help please

[InspectahDef]

Hello all,
I currently have two IDE drives, 40Gb & 30Gb no RAID setup. When I boot, I get a message that the 30Gb drive(very old) will have imminent failure.
I would like to replace this drive with an 80-120GB hard drive. I'd like the fastest drive possible while still maintaining a budget. Do I need special hardware to install a Serial ATA drive on an otherwise old computer? If so, what compatability issues are there? I plan on getting a new computer in the next year or so, and wouldn't want to get stuck with slower drive if possible.

SiSoftware Sandra shows that my drive types are ATA(40Gb), and ATAPI(30Gb). For reference, I have an older NForce mainboard which has integrated video, printer, ethernet, and sound (purchased in june 2002). My system device manager says I have a generic ST3MP28 SCSI controller, no RAID.

[Darthtanion]

Re: SATA v. ATA help please

Your current motherboard will not be able to utilize SATA on its own; it will need a PCI add-on board. Since you're wanting to maintain a budget, I'd just go with a standard ATA device. The reason is simple... with older hardware you run the chance of incompatibilities. Also, a PCI board will be running on the PCI bus, which doesn't even give you full SATA speeds due to its being a slower bus.

When you decide on the new drive, just make sure that your motherboard will handle the size of it. Older chipsets can't make full use of the total capacity without utilities that load with the BIOS. This too can cause compatibility issues.

[InspectahDef]

Re: SATA v. ATA help please

Thanks alot for the help. . . I think i'm going to look into the PCI adapters as a temp fix if I can find one for cheap. I'd like to run applications off of the new drive so I think i may still shoot for the SATA. However I will research it a bit more now that you have brought up some important points. Any other suggestions? Thanks again.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: SATA v. ATA help please

Thanks alot for the help. . . I think i'm going to look into the PCI adapters as a temp fix if I can find one for cheap.

It will provide absolutely no benfit to use SATA over IDE if you're using a PCI card, so unless cheap means free, don't bother. Even if the motherboard supported SATA, the best argument for SATA is that it's usually within $5 of an IDE equivelent and provides small, but tangible benefits, but that won't be the case in this situation, most likely.

[InspectahDef]

Re: SATA v. ATA help please

Thanks.