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SATA 2 and 3

Carlos1010
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55 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

And where exactly do you put the SATA connector in the motherboard? Any pictures you may find? Also thanks for your response!

The SATA ports on the motherboard look like this:

 

9y7XUFb.jpg

 

They can also be oriented differently so you plug in from the top rather than the side.

 

The SATA cable looks like this:

 

Spoiler

r5NWw9i.jpg

You can see the little L shape at the end of the connector, that only fits into the motherboard port (and on the drive at the other end) one way.

Hi all,

Is SATA 2 and 3 the connector for SSD's and HHD's? Also are SATA 3 SSD's more expensive than SATA 2? Last question is does a motherboard nowadays come with a SATA 3 connector or do you have to but they separately? Thanks in advanced!

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Most motherboards since the advent of SATAIII have at least two SATAIII ports, but some(like mine) also have SATAII ports. All SATA connectors are physically and electrically the same - the difference are the controllers on each end.

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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SATA 1 = 1.5Gb/s

SATA 2 = 3Gb/s

SATA 3 = 6Gb/s

HDD are about about 1.5Mb/s, so any sata port is fine for a HDD.

SSDs are alot faster than HDDs and often SATA 3 is the bottleneck.

 

Modern motherboards should come with SATA 3 (or SATA 6Gb/s) ports.

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Just now, huilun02 said:

There are no Sata2 SSDs AFAIK

It would be a silly thing to make

Unless you were of course making SSDs around the time of SATAII, like OCZ.

https://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G-Vertex-SATA-2-5-60GB/dp/B003NE5JCE

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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SATA 2 and 3 is the standard connector for HDDs and for many (but not all!) SSDs. You will be very hard pressed to find any SSDs on the market that are still running SATA 2. The actual connector is exactly the same, but the drive and the motherboard do need to both be capable of the SATA 3 speed to benefit from it.

 

The SATA connectors are on the motherboard, but you do need a SATA cable to connect drives. Most motherboards come with 2 or 4 SATA cables, so it depends how many drives you need to connect. If you're using an optical drive (DVD, Bluray) that will also be SATA.

 

All the SATA versions use the same cable by the way, so don't pay extra for a "SATA 3" cable.

 

5 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

SATA 1 = 1.5Gb/s

SATA 2 = 3Gb/s

SATA 3 = 6Gb/s

HDD are about about 1.5Mb/s, so any sata port is fine for a HDD.

SSDs are alot faster than HDDs and often SATA 3 is the bottleneck.

 

Modern motherboards should come with SATA 3 (or SATA 6Gb/s) ports.

SATA 1 is 1.5 Gb/s raw bit rate, but that only corresponds to a theoretical maximum throughput of 150 MB/s. Modern HDDs can reach around 200 MB/s, so SATA 1 would bottleneck them somewhat. But it doesn't matter, SATA 1 is very old and you won't find it on modern hardware. Even SATA 2 is pretty old school, and that has plenty of speed for HDDs.

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1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

There are no Sata2 SSDs AFAIK

It would be a silly thing to make

However Sata3 drives are backward compatible with Sata2 connection

There are. Some old OCZ SSDs were SATA II, like the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 (The SSDs that killed OCZ from killing themselves)

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21 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

SATA 2 and 3 is the standard connector for HDDs and for many (but not all!) SSDs. You will be very hard pressed to find any SSDs on the market that are still running SATA 2. The actual connector is exactly the same, but the drive and the motherboard do need to both be capable of the SATA 3 speed to benefit from it.

 

The SATA connectors are on the motherboard, but you do need a SATA cable to connect drives. Most motherboards come with 2 or 4 SATA cables, so it depends how many drives you need to connect. If you're using an optical drive (DVD, Bluray) that will also be SATA.

 

All the SATA versions use the same cable by the way, so don't pay extra for a "SATA 3" cable.

 

SATA 1 is 1.5 Gb/s raw bit rate, but that only corresponds to a theoretical maximum throughput of 150 MB/s. Modern HDDs can reach around 200 MB/s, so SATA 1 would bottleneck them somewhat. But it doesn't matter, SATA 1 is very old and you won't find it on modern hardware. Even SATA 2 is pretty old school, and that has plenty of speed for HDDs.

And where exactly do you put the SATA connector in the motherboard? Any pictures you may find? Also thanks for your response!

I'm part of the "Help a noob foundation" 

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Also for the speeds are you guys referring for read and write speeds or only the maximum it can reach?

I'm part of the "Help a noob foundation" 

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55 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

And where exactly do you put the SATA connector in the motherboard? Any pictures you may find? Also thanks for your response!

The SATA ports on the motherboard look like this:

 

9y7XUFb.jpg

 

They can also be oriented differently so you plug in from the top rather than the side.

 

The SATA cable looks like this:

 

Spoiler

r5NWw9i.jpg

You can see the little L shape at the end of the connector, that only fits into the motherboard port (and on the drive at the other end) one way.

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1 hour ago, Carlos1010 said:

Also for the speeds are you guys referring for read and write speeds or only the maximum it can reach?

Maximum theoretical data throughput for the connector for each generation. The read/write speeds are dependent on the drive itself.

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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Thank-you all for your responses!

I'm part of the "Help a noob foundation" 

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10 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

The SATA ports on the motherboard look like this:

 

9y7XUFb.jpg

 

They can also be oriented differently so you plug in from the top rather than the side.

 

The SATA cable looks like this:

 

  Hide contents

r5NWw9i.jpg

You can see the little L shape at the end of the connector, that only fits into the motherboard port (and on the drive at the other end) one way.

But if you put it one over another they don't fit with the L-Shape. Also why are the SATA connectors on the motherboard different colors? Thanks for your response!

I'm part of the "Help a noob foundation" 

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3 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

But if you put it one over another they don't fit with the L-Shape.

Correct. They only go in one way.

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Correct. They only go in one way.

So you have to use the straight cable instead of the L-Shaped one or is the bottom SATA input useless?

I'm part of the "Help a noob foundation" 

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Just now, Carlos1010 said:

So you have to use the straight cable instead of the L-Shaped one or does the bottom SATA input useless?

Are you referring to the connector itself? Because I think Sakkura was referring to the connector.

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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