I have a dual 1.25 ghz MDD. Its maxed out with ram. I'd like to get a new HD for it. Probably something in the 300 gb range. Would it really make a difference in real world speed if i where to get an SATA drive along with a SATA controller card? Or should i just get a regualr strength PATA version?

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The front bus (next to the big noisy fan) is ATA/100 and reasonably quick, the rear bus however is only ATA/66 which is noticeably slower. I run Retrospect backups to both and the slow bus really chokes down large writes. If this is only your second drive to be mounted in front PATA should be fine, If this is third or forth drive then a SATA might be justified if you plan on doing a lot of large files with it.

I thought it was the other way around. the rear bus was 100 and the front one was 66. By front, i mean the one under the optical drives.

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Just get an ATA drive, big as you want to get. For speed, consider a pair of smaller drives and do RAID 0, but be sure to have a solid back up plan if your using a striped array

Yeah. Thats what i'm thinking. i need to get a USB/FW card also.

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real world speed doing what?

booting? i havent rebooted in months... and i bet you havent either

copying huge files back and forth? is that something you do a lot of?

if you still have the stock drive, then yes, i would say any new drive will seem faster -- mostly because of the drive advances made (faster access times, bigger caches) since your MDDs drive was made -- which was several years ago

and you should be looking at 400 gigs, its the sweet spot for price/size

oh -- and you are also correct, ATA 100 in the back. ATA 66 in the front

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2006 09:26AM by jdc.

It has been noted in the past when i posted a question about my CS apps grinding on the HD at certain times that it was possibly due to lack of space. So i figured a new larger hard drive was in order. But at the same time wondered if a SATA drive would have any effect on the disk swapping that all my CS apps seem to love to do.

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Even though SATA HDs have been getting a little cheaper, I think jdc's advice about a 400G HD is spot on.

I just don't think you'd really notice any speed difference, particularly one worth the expense of a SATA drive and a card for it.

400G Seagates are getting dirt cheap.

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with current sustained transfer rates on hard drives around 80 megs/second, being on an ATA/100 bus isn't the bottleneck. And even being on an ATA/66 isn't going to slow down a current drive that much.

SATA has more potential, but single drive mechanisms aren't that fast yet.

Get a big PATA drive, put it on the ATA/100 bus and use your machine. I have a MDD Dual boot, duallie 1.25 with 4 hard drives, and 2 opticals. Heat isn't a problem, and I have the upgraded (downgraded really) power supply and fans. So if anything, my machine runs hotter because of it (but quieter)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2006 05:26PM by Racer X.

yup. Ordered a 400 gb drive, a USB/FW card, and a new CD/DVD burner today. All for about $260 shipped. I'll be an upgrading fool next week.

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cable select on that machine....unless it absolutely won't work, then you can go master/slave.

The drive sleds are supposed to have a screw locking them in place. Mine were both missing, but mine was an apple refurb. So keep that in mind if the sled won't come free. look for a retaining screw. it really isn't needed, so you can leave it out on reassembly..

The drive sleds are supposed to have a screw locking them in place. Mine were both missing, but mine was an apple refurb. So keep that in mind if the sled won't come free. look for a retaining screw. it really isn't needed, so you can leave it out on reassembly..

Only the rear ATA 100 bracket has a retaining screw. It's very easy to lose.

Oh yeah. I've disassembled one of those comletely before. Not worried about that at all. I actually left out that retaining screw for the rear drive last I was in there. I always forget about it so everytime i open it up, I have to take a minute to figure out why the drive sled won't come loose.

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