True SATA speed?

mtroxmtrox Minnesota
edited March 2007 in Hardware
I've been Googling around looking for an answer to the question:

What is the real world data transfer speed boost of SATA 1 and/or 2 versus IDE? Most of the discussions I see quickly loose me as they either:
  1. interchange 150 MB/s with 150 Mb/s
  2. dissolve into an argument over theoretical speeds where the drive is connected to some bench test.
Here's what I'd like to know:
  1. Is the speed boost significant once it's channeled through the bus of the average business laptop or desktop?
  2. And if the computer is connected to a network that runs through a 10/100 Mb switch, does it really matter in terms of data transfer between nodes?

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Theoretical throughput is 150 MB/s (Megabytes/second). In the real world, they're physically limited by platter densities and rotational velocity. If HDD manufacturers would make a PATA drive to the same specifications as an SATA drive, the speed difference would be within the margin of error; if it wasn't, it could only be chalked up to the fractionally lower bus overhead of SATA.


    What about switches?
  • mtroxmtrox Minnesota
    edited March 2007
    That's some of what I read Thrax....that rotational speed is a real limiter. And that if you speed up the RPM's you use more power, create more heat, and shorten the drive's life a bit.

    So you're saying there's not a lot of difference. That's my uninformed gut.

    What happens with that theoretical 150 MB once it hits the bus and makes its way to the modern 100/1000 Mb NIC card? Once you convert that 1000 Mb to MB.....does it matter at all?
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