Questions about SATA Hard Drives

[Trintar VIII]

Hi, I'm looking at buying a new SATA hard drive and would like to clarify a few things. First, I know there are SATA-150 and -300 versions. Is a motherboard restricted to just one or the other? If a motherboard can only use one, say 150, would a 300 work and just not run at its max? Also, I think it's the buffer (usually 8MB or 16MB) - which is better and what do they do? I very much appreciate any answers, thanks in advance!

 

[Nodsu]

SATA is fully backwards compatible. All SATA 150 devices will play nicely with SATA 300 devices (at SATA 150 speeds).

The buffer size is totally irrelevant. Look at seek times (less is better), sustained throughput (more is better) and warranty (more is better).

 

[Tedster]

bigger buffers are always better. But buying a SATA2 drive for a SATA 1 board is a waste of money. Although it is backwards compatible it will only run at SATA 1 speed.