is Sata as reliable

[Scotch77]

I have 2x 36gm Raptors on my p4c800-e deluxe mother board. They connect throgh the ICH5R south bridge intel Sata Ports.

I have 2 ports which use the promise controller, I havent used them before and I need a New HDD. So Im looking at a Single Sata Drive, no raid.

Can I just connect the Sata Drive without enabling the Promise controller in the Bios, Like I would a PATA drive?

Can I swap this drive from computer to computer(non-bootable) with sata like you can on Pata?

If I cant doesnt this mean Pata drives are still more secure for your data?

 

[lithium726]

youll have to enable the promise controller to get the drive working, but tahts jsut like having a seperate PATA controller for more PATA drives... standalone sata drives can be switched between computers with no problem, and can even be hotswapped if the chipset supports it. i do it all the time

note: you must use the sata power connector (not molex) for hotswap. otherwise, if you use molex and the 12v or 5v hits before the ground pins do, youre gonna let the magic smoke out of that drive..

 

[Asgorath]

lithium-

Could you explain about the SATA power connector, its purpose, and any other pertinant details? Since my first experience with SATA drives, I have just thought that new connector was SATA's version of an 80 pin SCSI drive. Mainly so I can easily pull the drive in and out of backplanes. Other than the physical aspect of it sliding in and out easier, what technical differences are there between the SATA connector and the oldschool molex? Why does the SATA connector have so many pins?

Thanks!

 

[lithium726]

its like that for hotswap, plain and simple. the ground leads are on there first, to get the drive grounded before applying power to it. if you apply power before its grounded, poof, you lost a drive. molex doesnt have this kind of protection.

 

[unhappy_mage]

It also allows for 3.3v power supply to the drives, to support smaller 2.5" form factor drives. This will eventually be important, but nobody's using them yet.

 

[Scotch77]

youll have to enable the promise controller to get the drive working, but tahts jsut like having a seperate PATA controller for more PATA drives... standalone sata drives can be switched between computers with no problem, and can even be hotswapped if the chipset supports it. i do it all the time

note: you must use the sata power connector (not molex) for hotswap. otherwise, if you use molex and the 12v or 5v hits before the ground pins do, youre gonna let the magic smoke out of that drive..

What if the other computer does not have a promise controller. dont you need to be on that specific controller, or you need to reset the drive which makes you loose all data

 

[defakto]

You only need to match controllers if you are running some sort of raid. A stand alone sata drive, is a sata drive to another system just like a stand alone pata drive is a pata drive to another system.

 

[Lazn_Work]

What if the other computer does not have a promise controller. dont you need to be on that specific controller, or you need to reset the drive which makes you loose all data

No, if you do not setup RAID you can move that drive to any other SATA controller and it will still have the data there, just like with a PATA drive on a Promise IDE controller, it is 100% exactly identically the same thing.

It is as if the SATA were some kind of version of the ATA standard that includes the older PATA too. (oh wait, it is)

==>Lazn

 

[lithium726]

What if the other computer does not have a promise controller. dont you need to be on that specific controller, or you need to reset the drive which makes you loose all data

100% compatble.

just like when you move chipsets with PATA drives. as long as its not the system drive and needs a driver for the new controller in order to boot, it will work fine.