I've nearly run out of storage space and thus am in the process of
finding a new hard disc to buy. I am considering a Western Digital 250
GB SATAII drive for AUD$219 (about US$170)
Currently I am running a WD 200 GB SATAI (first generation SATA 150)
drive on one port of a PCI-SATA(I) controller card. It is based on a
Silicon Image chipset, I think 3112. It is just a standard controller,
no RAID etc, but it works fine. It has one other channel free where I
intend on putting the new drive.
I am wondering if I buy a SATAII drive will it work off of the SATA(I)
PCI controller card?
Are SATA II drives backwards compatible with SATAI controllers? Will the
drive work, but simply be restricted to SATAI speeds (and to the speed
of the PCI bus), or are SATA II drives only mechanically compatible
(i.e. they use the same cables) but are electronically incompatible?
Meaning if I buy a SATAII drive I would also have to buy a new SATAII
PCI controller card?
Basically I was hoping to be able to buy a SATAII drive now, because
towards the end of the year I intend on upgrading to a new nForce 4
based motherboard that will no doubt have a heap of SATAII connectors.
Plus a chipset that can supply the bandwidth required for SATAII. But
for now I was hoping I would be able to use the other channel of the
SATA(I) controller to support a new SATAII drive.
Simon Howson
