Sata hard drives

[Destroyer^]

ive just ordered a new hard drive 250gb Western digital Sata 2 16mb cache 7200 rpm... im wondering what do i need to do when installing a sata drive?

do i just install it into my tower.. try installing windows and then install sata drivers when it says to ?


also if its oem will it come with the sata drivers if not where can i get them ?

[BUFF]

if it's for the board in your specs. nF4 has native basic support for single SATA drives.
You don't actually need to install a driver unless for RAID use or to use optional features like NCQ.

if you do want to use a driver your Asus CD will have them (you'll have to make a floppy) or you can get them from nVidia I would think.

[[DW]Cougho]

Nforce 4 mobo? Do nothing, it emulates IDE during the windows setup so no need for anything special. Nforce 3 and earlier needed the drivers to be loaded when windows asks you to press F6 if you need a 3pt RAID or SCSI driver.

[Destroyer^]

emulates just for the startup? so i will still get the small speed increase that sata has over ide without installing the drivers?

btw what is ncq =p

[BUFF]

emulates just for the startup? so i will still get the small speed increase that sata has over ide without installing the drivers?

The speed increase isn't really due to the interface but the small, evolutionary improvements in the mechanics/density of the drives.

btw what is ncq =p

No Command Queueing

[Agent]

No Command Queueing

Isnt it Native Command Queuing ?

[BUFF]

Isnt it Native Command Queuing ?

you are indeed correct

[amjedm]

Isnt it Native Command Queuing ?

But what does it actually do?

[Nox]

Queues commands, natively

Basically its a way of accessing data on the spinning disk so it doesn't need to spin a full revolution first. Sounds great, but in practice, its a bit rubbish for us general users, and only helps in a strong multi-user environemt, ie files servers. Maybe in a few years when the tech matures a bit...

Nox

[amjedm]

Queues commands, natively

Basically its a way of accessing data on the spinning disk so it doesn't need to spin a full revolution first. Sounds great, but in practice, its a bit rubbish for us general users, and only helps in a strong multi-user environemt, ie files servers. Maybe in a few years when the tech matures a bit...

Nox

Thank you.

Does it make any difference to noise?

I recently purchased a Samsung 80GB 8MB from Scan and the seeks are noisy. I'm not sure if it is possible to turn on/off NCQ.

[Nox]

Not really, you would be better off finding out if seagate has an "HD tool" A lot of manufacturers let you change a few settings, ie select between performance or noise. Chances are its allready switched off, even raptors ship with it off by default, and you need a motherboard/controller that will support it...

Nox