SATAI VS SATAII

  There are some common misunderstanding about the differences between SATAI and SATAII. It does not necessarily mean that a SATAII drive will be faster than a SATAI. SATAI and II are the interface specifications and feature sets to which the drives must adhere to. SATAII drives usually have more functions built in so some older computers may not be capable of using these drives. Some newer SATAII drives such as Seagate have a jumper on the back that will allow them to operate on the STATI Spec. To allow them full SATAII usefulness you must remove that jumper. Some hard drive controllers are not capable of working with the Firmware on these newer drives. Currently SATAII drives perform at about the same I/O speeds as SATAI drives. For a little more information on SATAI and SATAII specs read this short description.

  The SATA spec that a drive adheres to has little bearing on the actual performance of the drive. It's like buying a car that can only travel at 70 miles per hour. It doesn't matter if the speed limit of the road it travels on is 150 or 300 miles per hour. The car itself is only capable of 70. Same with drives. Most 7200 RPM drives are capable of about 65-70 MB/s at their fastest when empty. Doesn't matter if the specs for that drive give it permission to go 150 MB/s or 300 MB/s. It's physically only capable of about 65-70 MB/s.

  NOW AVAILABLE! The next generation of Seagate hard drives are capable of 100 MB/s with capacities as large as 1TB. WOOF!

  There are two different types of SATA connectors having nothing to do with SATAI or STATII specs. Type-A which has has an "L" shaped tab inside and eSATA where the tab is flat and looks similar to USB. Type-A are generally for internal use where eSATA which is more robust is exclusively external. All SATA drives are Type-A and most externally ported Host Cards are eSATA. Make sure what type cabling you need before you order since the connector types are not interchangeable. Converter cables are available with eSATA on one end and Type-A on the other.