Is SATA 300 backwards compatible with 150?

[rocketbubba]

I'm in the market for a SATA HDD and I'm looking at some SATA I and SATA II drives. My motherboard manual says it's compatible with SATA version 1 at 1.5Gb/s. Thinking toward the future, I was thinking of buying a SATA II if it's backwards compatible. Thanks for the help.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Most (all?) drives have jumper pins to force them to run in SATA-1 mode, but many motherboards can negotiate the right speed even without the jumper.

Samsung Spinpoint drives definitely have the jumper pins.

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Most (all?) drives have jumper pins to force them to run in SATA-1 mode, but many motherboards can negotiate the right speed even without the jumper.

Samsung Spinpoint drives definitely have the jumper pins.

Correct.

Also Seagate (most) also need a jumper moved to work on some SATA150 boards.

 

[alimoalem]

it's a yes...and the spinpoint mentioned above is good for silence if you want it...

 

[rocketbubba]

Thanks for the replies. I've narrowed my search down to a 250gb WD from ZZF. Does anybody know if WD SATA II drives have a jumper and are backwards compatible?

 

[nycdude]

Originally posted by: rocketbubba
Thanks for the replies. I've narrowed my search down to a 250gb WD from ZZF. Does anybody know if WD SATA II drives have a jumper and are backwards compatible?

I would like to know this too. Should I go for 16mb vs 8mb buffer?

also I read reviews where the WD drives runs hot. Any truth to this???

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: nycdude

Originally posted by: rocketbubba
Thanks for the replies. I've narrowed my search down to a 250gb WD from ZZF. Does anybody know if WD SATA II drives have a jumper and are backwards compatible?

I would like to know this too. Should I go for 16mb vs 8mb buffer?

also I read reviews where the WD drives runs hot. Any truth to this???

Go for 16 over 8. All drives get hot. Its a moot point if you have good cooling.