Expert opinions on SATA, IDE drives, etc.

[George]

I'm using a 3-yr old PC with WinXP-pro, with a basic 80GB hard drive, but
also have several USB external drives, 100GB and 200GB, for backups. Could
I collect a few opinions and facts on the old vs. new drives (sure, there
are articles on this out there, but I'd greatly appreciate just a few
succint, straightforward notes, thanks...)

1) Are the two options "SATA" and IDE? Is Ultra ATA-100 and EIDE pretty
much same as IDE?

2) What's the big deal about SATA?

2a) Is it that 2 SATA drives can be used to parallel-record files, so I
don't need backups, i.e. the 2nd one serves as a redundant drive? Is this
doable on a WinXP-pro PC?

2b) Is it that SATA is *much* faster.... is the speed in, for instance
starting Windows?__ Starting an app like Adobe Photoshop (slow)?__ Opening
a large file?__

3) If I get a SATA drive, can I "retro-fit" my old WinXP PC, will it make
any noticeable difference? Or should I want until the next PC-upgrade and
it will likely have one on it?

3b) If I did "retro-fit", is there software that *really& reliably* can
transfer *entire* old drive contents over...or is this buggy, risky?

4) If I get a SATA drive for backups (and put it in a USB-enclosure), is
there any benefit at all over the older drives?

Thanks,
George

 

[Kerry Brown]

I'm using a 3-yr old PC with WinXP-pro, with a basic 80GB hard drive,
but also have several USB external drives, 100GB and 200GB, for
backups. Could I collect a few opinions and facts on the old vs. new
drives (sure, there are articles on this out there, but I'd greatly
appreciate just a few succint, straightforward notes, thanks...)

1) Are the two options "SATA" and IDE? Is Ultra ATA-100 and EIDE
pretty much same as IDE?

No. There are other options like SCSI and Fibre Channel. ATA-100 is faster
than EIDE (ATA-2)

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ATA.html

2) What's the big deal about SATA?

It has the potential to be faster than PATA

2a) Is it that 2 SATA drives can be used to parallel-record files, so
I don't need backups, i.e. the 2nd one serves as a redundant drive? Is
this doable on a WinXP-pro PC?

With the right controller you can do RAID 1 (mirroring) with any type of
drive. This does not mean you don't need to do backups. RAID 1 is for
redundancy. A computer will stay functioning if one drive fails allowing you
to then schedule down time to replace the failed drive. You will lose data
if any of the following happen: user error (e.g. format drive, delete
files), bad ram, bad power supply, bad motherboard, bad CPU, file corruption
from malware, fire, flood, theft, etc. etc.

2b) Is it that SATA is *much* faster.... is the speed in, for instance
starting Windows?__ Starting an app like Adobe Photoshop (slow)?__
Opening a large file?__

It depends on the controller and the motherboard. With most built in SATA
controllers there is little if any speed difference over PATA drives. To
really see the difference you need a motherboard with PCI-X slots and a high
end SATA controller.

3) If I get a SATA drive, can I "retro-fit" my old WinXP PC, will it
make any noticeable difference? Or should I want until the next
PC-upgrade and it will likely have one on it?

Again, it depends on the controller. Most older computers won't see a
noticable speed increase by installing a SATA controller and SATA drives. If
I was buying a new computer I would expect it to have a SATA drive. I
wouldn't buy one that didn't.

3b) If I did "retro-fit", is there software that *really& reliably*
can transfer *entire* old drive contents over...or is this buggy,
risky?

Acornis True Image, Norton Ghost, Bootitng, and many more work reliably.

4) If I get a SATA drive for backups (and put it in a USB-enclosure),
is there any benefit at all over the older drives?

No. You are limited by the speed of USB .

 

[Ron Martell]

I'm using a 3-yr old PC with WinXP-pro, with a basic 80GB hard drive, but
also have several USB external drives, 100GB and 200GB, for backups. Could
I collect a few opinions and facts on the old vs. new drives (sure, there
are articles on this out there, but I'd greatly appreciate just a few
succint, straightforward notes, thanks...)

1) Are the two options "SATA" and IDE? Is Ultra ATA-100 and EIDE pretty
much same as IDE?

Ultra ATA-100 is a further evolution of EIDE, which in turn was an
improvement over the original IDE.

2) What's the big deal about SATA?

Higher data transfer rates, easier to provide for more than 4 disk
drives in a PC.

2a) Is it that 2 SATA drives can be used to parallel-record files, so I
don't need backups, i.e. the 2nd one serves as a redundant drive? Is this
doable on a WinXP-pro PC?

I think what you are talking about is a RAID 1 (data mirroring)
configuration which is more easily done with SATA but can also be done
with EIDE drives.

Disk mirroring provides you with one type of backup, that is
protection against the failure of the hard drive as the second hard
drive is an exact copy and can be used immediately.

What disk mirroring does not provide you with is:
1. The ability to recover from corrupted or invalid data, where you
need to access a file or files as they were yesterday or last week. If
the files on one drive in a mirrored set are corrupted or have invalid
data then the mirrored drive will be the same.
2. The ability to recover from the loss or destruction of the
complete computer due to theft, fire, etc.

2b) Is it that SATA is *much* faster.... is the speed in, for instance
starting Windows?__ Starting an app like Adobe Photoshop (slow)?__ Opening
a large file?__

It is faster, but not that much faster than ATA-100. In most
instances you would have to do a series of precisely timed benchmark
tests in order to see the difference.

3) If I get a SATA drive, can I "retro-fit" my old WinXP PC, will it make
any noticeable difference? Or should I want until the next PC-upgrade and
it will likely have one on it?

Does your current PC have a SATA controller built into the
motherboard. Most machines that are more than 2 years old do not so
you would have to purchase an accessory card with a SATA controller on
it.

3b) If I did "retro-fit", is there software that *really& reliably* can
transfer *entire* old drive contents over...or is this buggy, risky?

Programs such as Acronis True Image or Partition Magic generally do a
good job of copying/cloning disks. And most hard drive manufacturers
have free utilities which you can download and use to clone a drive,
provided at least one of the drives is from that manufacturer. And
these also work quite well.

4) If I get a SATA drive for backups (and put it in a USB-enclosure), is
there any benefit at all over the older drives?

Not really, unless the SATA drive and enclosure were cheaper than the
equivalent EIDE drive and enclosure. The limiting factor in this
situation would be the speed of the USB connection rather than the
speed of the drive and/or controller.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."