# Sata III vs Sata II



## GSquadron (Apr 24, 2010)

Hello guys!
I want to buy a new hdd for my computer, but i dont know what to buy...
I saw in an online retailer a sata III hdd 1TB:
http://www.e-shop.gr/show_per.phtml...ERN-DIGITAL-WD1002FAEX-1TB-CAVIAR-BLACK-SATA3
And this one which is Sata II:
http://www.e-shop.gr/show_per.phtml...ERN-DIGITAL-1TB-WD1001FALS-CAVIAR-BLACK-SATA2
Which one to buy?
My mobo only supports Sata II.


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## mosheen (Apr 24, 2010)

Get the cheapest. 
No real difference on mechanical drives, maybe burst rate but thats it.
Sata III is backward compatible and should work on your board.


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## GSquadron (Apr 24, 2010)

The sata III has 64mb buffer, instead of 32mb of sata II. Does that mean that it is faster?


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## Kreij (Apr 24, 2010)

Only if it needs it. If the HD can keep the amount buffered under 32MB, it will never use the rest.


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## Mussels (Apr 24, 2010)

if its the WD drives with sata III and 64MB cache, dont use them if you're running windows XP

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119899


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## GSquadron (Apr 24, 2010)

Wow man thanks!
I was going to use windows xp and you really helped me out with smth i didnt know.


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## niko084 (Apr 24, 2010)

From everything I have found *not tested personally but will be soon* SataIII drives on SataIII controllers are actually *"SLOWER" * than SataII drives on SataII controllers do to overhead and the drives not being any faster to use that extra bandwidth of the port.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 25, 2010)

Is it all compatible? Meaning can I use a III drive in a II port board and II drive in a III port board?


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## Mussels (Apr 25, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Is it all compatible? Meaning can I use a III drive in a II port board and II drive in a III port board?



yes, they slow down to match the highest common denomimator.


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## 1freedude (Apr 29, 2010)

Mussels said:


> yes, they slow down to match the highest common denomimator.



so, if you have two sIII ports, two SSD's, one of which is a crucial sIII, the other a ocz vertex, the crucial will be throttled back to sII speeds?  Not talking about raid...


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## Mussels (Apr 30, 2010)

1freedude said:


> so, if you have two sIII ports, two SSD's, one of which is a crucial sIII, the other a ocz vertex, the crucial will be throttled back to sII speeds?  Not talking about raid...



its on a per-port basis.

sata III device on SATA III port = sata III speeds.

sata II device on SATA III port = sata II speeds


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