SATA interface question

[etherealgrifter]

need a new hard drive, want a SATA. newegg.com lists two interface types... SATA 3.0 Gb/s and Serial ATA150. They seem very similar... is there a difference? Thanks.

 

[anarchyreigns]

Here's the deal:

There are two main types of SATA drives. SATA 1.5G and SATA 3G. (and will everntually go to 6G) The difference between the two are the interface speeds. No drive comes close to either one of those speeds, so it doesn't make any difference whether a drive is SATA 1.5G or SATA 3G at this point in time.

SATA II is just a set of extensions that can be added to either a SATA 1.5G or SATA 3G drive, providing features such as Native Command Queuing, staggered spin up, etc., etc.

A SATA drive can have some, all, or none of the SATA II extensions.
In some cases the mobo's controller must support the extensions too, such as with Native Command Queuing. All nForce4 boards support some SATA II extensions, such as NCQ.

What SATA II does not mean, however, is a 3Gb/s transfer rate...amongst other things

Lastly, the advantage of going SATA vs. PATA, is that some of the newer drives in the future will be SATA only.