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With SATA 6Gb/s Specification Coming, SATA-IO Provides Naming Guidance

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:39:32 -0500

Confused by terms like SATA II, SATA Gen 2, and SATA 3Gb/s? You're not alone. With today's release (link in PDF format) of the PHY (physical layer) portion of the forthcoming SATA revision 3.0 specification (details here), SATA-IO, the trade association responsible for defining Serial ATA specifications, is trying hard to stomp out the many misidentifications of SATA specifications and features over the years.

SATA revision 3.0 doubles the speed of the current 3Gb/s version, reaching transfer speeds of 6Gb/s. So, what should you call the newest member of the SATA specifications family? According to the SATA Naming Guidelines, here's what works:

The first reference in a document should be: "Serial ATA International Organization: Serial ATA Revision 3.0." Additional references can be to either "SATA Revision 3.0" or "SATA 6Gb/s."

To find out how SATA-IO is also working to clear up confusion for current technologies, join us after the jump.

Are SSDs All That and A Bag of Chips?

Chris Moody — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:02:56 -0500

Solid state drives (SSDs) are usually considered to be more power efficient, faster, and in some respects more reliable than hard disk drives and they command a hefty premium over other drives. Dell's offering of a 128GB solid-state drive as an option on its Latitude, XPS, Alienware, and Precision laptop models for $649 is a steep drop price drop since many SSDs with half of that capacity still sell for more than $700. Is it really worth it? The IDC released a report that claims the performance gap between SSDs and lower-cost high-performance hard disk drives is not that significant at the system level.

TargetTech.com quotes David Reinsel, one of the authors of the report, "Many tests have been done comparing 4,200 rpm hard drives to SSDs, but 5,400 rpm is now mainstream and even 7,200 rpm disks are available." He adds that the gap between performance in systems with 7,200 rpm 2.5-inch drives and systems with SSDs was much smaller than expected, mainly because of the performance of the system as a whole rather than just the storage device. Reinsel goes on to say, "There will be what's called a 'period of interdependency' with this technology. It isn't just plug and play." He suggests that system redesigns will be necessary in PCs and enterprise systems to gain the full benefit from flash.

If you are the ultra curious type and have ten grand to blow you can grab the report here. My credit card just laughed at me for trying.

Even though SSDs have dropped in price, they still are not a good performance item for the price point. A Fujitsu 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb OEM notebook drive is going for $99, versus a $640 SSD with the same capacity. The price savings can buy you a lot of other goodies. We will have to wait for systems to be updated to take advantage of SSD drives and of course in the mean time, the price will continue to go down. When will it be the right price point versus performance for you to make the switch?

Drobo Adds Performance with New FireWire 800/USB 2.0 Version

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:44:51 -0500

The Drobo storage robot adds FireWire 800 ports for faster performance, and provides a discount for first-generation models. USB 2.0 users also get faster performance, and it's easy to figure out exactly how many (and how large) the drives you need to add to get the storage you want. So, how much is the new Drobo, what can you save on an "old" Drobo, and what else is different?

For all the answers, I'll see you after the jump.

Help! My Drive Disappeared!

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:40:41 -0500

I built an Intel-based system that’s running on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 motherboard. I’m chugging on three SATA hard drives—a 120GB, 250GB, and 500GB. The processor is a Core 2 Duo E6300 running at 1.86GHz, along with 4GB of 667MHz memory and a GeForce 5800 Ultra Extreme 512MB graphics card.

So what’s my problem? The system runs OK with 64-bit Vista Ultimate SP1, but I have a problem with the 500GB drive disappearing. It doesn’t show up in any of the installed diagnostic programs, Windows disk management, or anywhere else. If I swap the power supply connector around, the drive will show up for a while, but then it disappears again. (The power supply is a Thermaltake 800W unit that’s about a year old, and it has swappable plug connectors.)

Most times a reboot shows the disk in the BIOS as “BzBzBzBz...” What’s going on?

—Frank Buttell

Hit the jump to see what Frank's options are!

Windows Home Server and Central Axis, Look Out: Drobo Broadens Network Media Server Category

Mark Edward Soper — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:23:24 -0500

Data Robotics, the creators of Drobo, "The World's First Storage Robot" and DroboShare, which adds network capabilities to Drobo, have taken Drobo to the next level. Endgadget reports that Data Robotics has opened Drobo+DroboShare up to developers through its new Drobo Developer Community (DDC) and SDK program.

To understand why the network media server category has just gotten even bigger, catch me after the break.

Plextor PX-810SA

Katherine Stevenson — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:36:02 -0500

Ever since Plextor stopped manufacturing the PX-755SA DVD burner, we’ve been on the hunt for a worthy replacement. We loved the Plexy’s SATA interface, so we’re not settling for anything less going forward. (It’s just plain foolish to opt for a drive with an oversized, outdated parallel connector when SATA models are available.) Since SATA drives from Lite-On and Asus failed to win us over in the August issue, we corralled a couple new contenders, including Plextor's new PX-810SA.

Click Read More for more.

Samsung SH-S203B

Katherine Stevenson — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:05:58 -0500

Click Read More for more.

Is a Solid State Drive in your future?

Gordon Mah Ung — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:21:05 -0500

SSD’s have been hyped up lately, but it’s not exactly a new concept. My first experience with flash-based storage was the then revolutionary Hewlett-Packard Ominbook 300. The Omnibook used a combination of ROM cards and an optional 10MB PCMCIA flash card for storage almost 14 years ago. That 10MB optional flash drive set you back $1,200 and performance wasn’t exactly stunning.

Click Read More for more.