Simple Question:

[magoo]

Is a SATA III drive backward compatible with a SATA II interface?

In other words, can I buy a SATA III drive and plug it into my older MB which is olny SATA II speed?

Obviously the new drive will not function at SATA III speeds, but that is not as important as merely allowing the new drive to function for storage.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuklr]

Is a SATA III drive backward compatible with a SATA II interface?

In other words, can I buy a SATA III drive and plug it into my older MB which is olny SATA II speed?

Obviously the new drive will not function at SATA III speeds, but that is not as important as merely allowing the new drive to function for storage.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, magoo,

The answer is: Yes.

Hope this helps.

chuklr

 

[LOCO LAPTOP]

Yep, infact I'm doing that as we speak.

 

[magoo]

Hi, magoo,

The answer is: Yes.

Hope this helps.

chuklr

Thanks.
I thought so......and actually just stumbled on the statement while looking at a WesternDigital HDD.
It's one of those things I should have known, but never really had to consider until this week.

 

[magoo]

Yep, infact I'm doing that as we speak.

Awesome.
This is for my daughters computer.
The plan is to replace her aging HDD with some more capacity and team the deal up with a Corsair 45GB Accelerator.

 

[drescherjm]

In other words, can I buy a SATA III drive and plug it into my older MB which is olny SATA II speed?

Obviously the new drive will not function at SATA III speeds, but that is not as important as merely allowing the new drive to function for storage.

Also for hard drives it will make no noticeable difference if you plug a SATA III drive in a SATA II interface or SATA III interface since absolutely no SATA hard drive made today comes anywhere near using the ~300 MB/s that SATA II provides.

 

[Aesma]

If you have a good SATA1 controller (meaning not the very early ones that didn't adhere to the norm) then it should work too, SATA has been designed to allow (retro)compatibility just like USB.

 

[larrymoencurly]

If you have a good SATA1 controller (meaning not the very early ones that didn't adhere to the norm) then it should work too

I have a Promise SATA1 card with a BIOS dated 2003 (newest!). It works fine with SATA1, SATA II, and SATA III hard drives but not anything bigger than 1TB (even when the HD is configured for 150MB/s max speed).