Can someone explain to me hard drives speeds vs. interface?

[Moab]

People keep talking about SATA 1.5 or SATA 3.0 but do these things really make a difference in real world performance?

With a standard 7200 RPM drive, besides for benchmarking, whats the real reason behind getting a higher rated drive or running a drive at a higher SATA level?

I keep reading about how it makes no real difference but I dont know the whole story or how to explain it when I am asked about why it doesnt matter if you remove that little jumper off the back of your hard drive to get it into 3.0 mode.

 

[BladeVenom]

No noticeable difference in real world performance. SATA 1.5 interface is almost twice as fast as the hard drive already, so doubling the interface speed doesn't really do anything.

 

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
No noticeable difference in real world performance. SATA 1.5 interface is almost twice as fast as the hard drive already, so doubling the interface speed doesn't really do anything.

Correct - IMHO

RPM is the only real world difference.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
No noticeable difference in real world performance. SATA 1.5 interface is almost twice as fast as the hard drive already, so doubling the interface speed doesn't really do anything.

Or another way to say it is "There are no hard drives faster tha the SATA 1.5 spec."
SATA 3.0 and 1.5 are buss speed specifications, they have nothing to do with how fast a hard drive transfers data. If your car will only go 100MPH on a 2 lane highway, it still will go only go 100MPH on a 6 lane highway.

 

[13Gigatons]

The reason you may want Sata 3.0 is for NCQ and hotplugging capablities if those features are included otherwise they are no faster then PATA interface drives. I'm ready for 15,000 rpm drives or maybe solid state drives. It seems hard drives are lagging behind in the need for speed.