Determine SATA Port Version with software?

[THizzle7XU]

Hey everyone,

Is there a way to determine the version of the sata port with a program? Not the hard drive itself, but the MB sata port without cracking open the case (it's a notebook)?

I just got a Toshiba notebook (the custom version of what was just reviewed on Anandtech) and overall I'm really happy with it, except I was dismayed to read that Toshiba under clocked the NVIDIA GPU a bit. So that made me suspicious if the hard drive sata port is version 3 even though the chipset is Intel HM65 for Sandy Bridge. The motherboard is B2 stepping, so I'm pretty sure it HAS to be sata 3 due to the sata 2 hardware flaw, but I want to see it verified somehow if I ever get a sata 3 compatible SSD.

I did just order the Intel G3 300GB SSD, which I know is sata 2, but in this case I wanted capacity over speed for that ~$500 price range since I'm sticking it in a notebook and don't have a second internal HDD for larger files. But in the future if sata 3 SSDs come down in price enough and I end up needing like a 500GB drive in a while, I want to know that it would be worth it for this system.

Thanks!

 

[stevech]

I believe that motherboards have different colors for SATA III. Perhaps white, whereas SATA II may be blue by convention?

 

[gamefreakgcb]

I believe that motherboards have different colors for SATA III. Perhaps white, whereas SATA II may be blue by convention?

He is talking about a notebook/laptop.

As to OP, I have no idea, usually they list under tech specs.

 

[Elixer]

Hey everyone,

Is there a way to determine the version of the sata port with a program? Not the hard drive itself, but the MB sata port without cracking open the case (it's a notebook)?

I just got a Toshiba notebook (the custom version of what was just reviewed on Anandtech) and overall I'm really happy with it, except I was dismayed to read that Toshiba under clocked the NVIDIA GPU a bit. So that made me suspicious if the hard drive sata port is version 3 even though the chipset is Intel HM65 for Sandy Bridge. The motherboard is B2 stepping, so I'm pretty sure it HAS to be sata 3 due to the sata 2 hardware flaw, but I want to see it verified somehow if I ever get a sata 3 compatible SSD.

I did just order the Intel G3 300GB SSD, which I know is sata 2, but in this case I wanted capacity over speed for that ~$500 price range since I'm sticking it in a notebook and don't have a second internal HDD for larger files. But in the future if sata 3 SSDs come down in price enough and I end up needing like a 500GB drive in a while, I want to know that it would be worth it for this system.

Thanks!

Right, the chipset does support that, http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/ec-hm65/ec-hm65-overview.htm
if the notebook itself does, is another question. What is the exact model of that laptop ?

You could check in device manager, and see what it shows for the ports....
You can also use this to check: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html

 

[Old Hippie]

But in the future if sata 3 SSDs come down in price enough and I end up needing like a 500GB drive in a while, I want to know that it would be worth it for this system.

The specs say it's SATA6 Gb/s capable but I've noticed many laptops actually limit the speed because of heat and battery limitations.

After you install the drive, run AS-SSD and check the speeds against some Intel ICH10 chipset's AS-SSD tests.

If they're significantly different (lower) come back with the results and maybe we can suggest different power settings.

 

[THizzle7XU]

Right, the chipset does support that, http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/ec-hm65/ec-hm65-overview.htm
if the notebook itself does, is another question. What is the exact model of that laptop ?

You could check in device manager, and see what it shows for the ports....
You can also use this to check: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html

PC Wizard gave me the answer. The port is sata 3 (6 Gb/s). It was listed under Drives -> Disk Controller.
Oddly, the ODD is hooked up with something other than sata, I think I saw it as parallel. Thanks!

 

[THizzle7XU]

The specs say it's SATA6 Gb/s capable but I've noticed many laptops actually limit the speed because of heat and battery limitations.

After you install the drive, run AS-SSD and check the speeds against some Intel ICH10 chipset's AS-SSD tests.

If they're significantly different (lower) come back with the results and maybe we can suggest different power settings.

The BIOS does have a setting to limit sata power use, but it is set to performance by default.

 

[Old Hippie]

but it is set to performance by default.

Cool, most aren't.

Please post some testing screen-shots when it's up and running.

It will be interesting to see the results compared to desktop machines.

 

[THizzle7XU]

Cool, most aren't.

Please post some testing screen-shots when it's up and running.

It will be interesting to see the results compared to desktop machines.

AS-SSD says my offset is off, which I find odd since I did a fresh install of Windows 7. I'll have to look into it.

 

[THizzle7XU]

So I re-installed Windows 7 and made sure to delete the previous partition, and the alignment is set correctly. AS-SSD gave me slightly better results, more in-line with Intel's specs, especially the sequential write being about 220 MB/s.

 

[Old Hippie]

The second screen-shot is definately better.

If you can switch to the Intel drivers they generally have better speeds.

If you can enable write caching it may also improve your scores.

Edit....Your laptop is definately not gimping on SATA2 specs......It's a keeper.