SATA II vs SATA

[EMILK]

2-9-13

Hi Bob I'm new to building a computer and am in the process of purchaseing the recommended parts off your web site. When I click the Amazon link for todays reccomended WD hard drive it comes up with a SATA II drive and not a SATA III. Is there a big difference? I'm not looking for super great performance, just the experience and satisfaction of assembling my own computer. Should I keep poking around till I find a SATA III, or settle for the II and know I haven't made some fatal mistake?

thanks for your help

EMILK

[zburns]

Hello EMILK and welcome to the forums,

There may be some confusion regards this topic. I will comment further in the morning. In the meantime, take a look at this url for Western Digital: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=30 Note that all drives on this page are RE4 'Enterprise' drives. Click on specifications to see the specs of the Enterprise drives for Sata 3 Gb/s and Sata 6 Gb/s. (there is confusion in the nomenclature)

On the page you pull up with the above URL, you will see the 24/7 run time statement for Enterprise drives. Not sure the desktop drives do not share that same spec -- but I need to double check this specification to be certain.

[zburns]

WD Black at this url: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=760 No mention is made for 24/7 operation as in the RE models. The WD Black has a 5 year warranty and all of these drives are 6 Gb/s which make them a Sata III drive -- click on 'Specifications' and you will see the full list of WD Black all at 6 Gb/s.

My point is on the WD Black drives is that they lack the feature of 24/7 operation that is a spec for all the 'Enterprise Drives'. So this puts the Enterprise drives (WD RE) at a level higher in endurance, performance or reliability, etc..

The other point that I notice on the Western Digital site is that 6 Gb/s is the speed of the higher end drives -- not to many 3 Gb/s models shown on the site.
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Skip the speed for a moment. The RE drives are designed and built for 24/7 operation and they are meant for 'Server' type computers which are intended to run 24/7.

Based on what I see, the majority of the WD drives are designed for 6 Gb/sec so one would 'tend' in that direction; however, the RE Enterprise drives have some that run at 3 Gb/sec. and these are meant for 24/7 operation also.

I would assume that the slower speed drive would outlast the higher speed even tho both have a 24/7 rating. Servers are meant to run 24/7 with some routine downtime for maintenance, but the slower drives should give longer intervals between maintenance periods.

All the RE drives have 5 year warranties as do the WD Black drives. I think it is up to you as whether you want the faster 6 Gb/sec or the slower 3 Gb/sec. Logically, the slower drive should outlast the faster drive, all other features or specs being the same.
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My build is approaching five years old this year. The HD is a WD Black drive and I have never had a 'hiccup' of any kind with it. The RE drives should obviously be better 'life wise' or 'endurance wise' than the WD Black because of the 24/7 operation feature.