SATA vs ATA (EIDE)

[Mark J. Dulcey]

markw at mohawksoft.com wrote:
> Does anyone have an opinion about which one is better? Interface and I/O
> speed? DMA? Compatibility with Linux?

SATA is theoretically faster, especially the newer 300MB/s SATA-II, 
which isn't supported by all drives or motherboards. (The original SATA 
was only slightly faster than UDMA 6, aka Ultra ATA/133.) In the real 
world, it doesn't matter, because the disk drives aren't as fast as the 
interface. SATA also has less bulky cables that are easier to route 
inside your box, and can be used for very fast external drives, because 
the cable length limits are less severe.

On the other hand, you'll need to use a reasonably current Linux distro 
for it to work reliably. And you're less likely to get real bargains on 
drives; the REALLY cheap ones on sale mostly seem to be parallel ATA.



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