HDD - SATA, SATA III, or something else?

[SaltyNuts]

I need to buy a hard drive for data storage for my new build. Here is the mobo:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Question - do I get an SATA drive or SATA III drive? Or something else?

Also need to get a SSD for my main drive - any particular interface or what not I need to be thinking about there?

Thanks.

 

[denis280]

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-750-Deskt...5641718&sr=1-3 you can get the green.but i prefer the blue

 

[SaltyNuts]

Thanks denis280. I see that's a SATA III drive - is it clear my mobo (brand new) can use SATA III as opposed to SATA? And what is the difference between green and blue?

Thanks!

 

[Elixer]

All brand new mobos can use SATA/II/III.
Heck, any mobo built within the last 4(or more) years should as well.

Bottom line is, a SATA 6Gbs (III) drive will be backwards compatible with SATA II, and so on.

 

[sm625]

You have to go back quite a few years to find a mobo that isnt either SATA2 or SATA3. For a typical HDD you wont notice any difference at all between the two. SATA3 will copy a dozen bluray rips a couple seconds faster. If you buy a brand new SSD it will run somewhat more significantly faster on SATA3. But again its really not a big deal.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You have to go back quite a few years to find a mobo that isnt either SATA2 or SATA3. For a typical HDD you wont notice any difference at all between the two. SATA3 will copy a dozen bluray rips a couple seconds faster. If you buy a brand new SSD it will run somewhat more significantly faster on SATA3. But again its really not a big deal.

Whoa! Most of what you say is true, and to add to it, yes -- the Blue drives are reliable while inexpensive. The SATA-III spec sets the maximum throughput attainable through the interface at about 600 MB/s. But drives are electro-mechanical, so earlier SATA-III's -- even the VelociRaptor -- could manage close to 150 while newer ones may come closer to 200.

But the difference between SSD and HDD is stark -- it's a big deal. SSD's will run very close to the SATA-III spec. So a Samsung 840-Pro shows sequential read rate at 500+MB/s. An SATA-III SSD on an SATA-II controller should be close to the SATA-II controller's 300MB/s spec.

I suppose I'd recommend for anyone building a desktop/workstation to consider using a single SSD and a single large-capacity (1TB, for instance) HDD.

The only thing that constrains your choices is the money. If you're strapped for cash, buy the Blue drive to configure the system initially. When you feel flush, spend $200-something on a Sammy SSD or a Crucial MX100. [And maybe even those prices have dropped in the last couple months -- dunno . . ]