[Luthas]

Hello i am new to computers somewhat and seeing the help on this site thought i would ask here. I have a gigabyte m61p-s3 motherboard and i am wondering which kind of SATA drive to buy. Does 2.5" or 3.5" matter? How about weather its SATA or SATAII? Any help would be awesome.

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as far as i know.. Laptops use 2.5" and pc's 3.5" , and take a look here: http://www.cdrinfo.c...ArticleId=16014

hope i helped you out

[Chill-Gamer]

as far as i know.. Laptops use 2.5" and pc's 3.5" , and take a look here: http://www.cdrinfo.c...ArticleId=16014

hope i helped you out

[dsenette]

yeah..laptops use the 2.5 and desktops are 3.5 ...i think the sata connectors are the same...but 3.5 drives are almost always cheaper and better equipped for dealing with heat...they also generally have faster transfer speeds

sataII is backwards compatible with SATAI...the distinction between the two is in reference to transfer speed capabilities....if your motherboard has SATAII ports...and you get a SATAII drive then the drive will run at the faster sataII speeds...if not then the drive will run at SATAI speeds even if it's a SATAII drive

[Neil Jones]

Connectors are more or less the same between 2.5" and 3.5", only difference is the SATA data cable connector is obviously a lot smaller. And it doesn't require a coloured cable with a chunky connector on each end either, it connects straight in like IDE laptop drives do. It's no good (and is also a tad pointless) using laptop drives in desktop machines either.

SATA II drives will work in SATA II boards and SATA I boards. A SATA II Drive will only work in a SATA I board if it has been told to work in SATA I mode - usually by means of a jumper or some downloadable firmwire changer. Most drives come in SATA I mode by default in any case so if you know your board supports SATA II you can change it to that mode. If in doubt, leave it.

[Luthas]

Cheers guys for the help your a credit to this forum.