G'day Grazie!
I read an article on Wikipedia , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA , from that it looks to me like SATA 150 refers to first generation SATA drives, 1.5 Gbit/s.
D

Not much faster than the EIDE drives they replaced. They ran at 133Mbps.

OK, chaps, that about clinches it for me!

I am NOT going to use one of my PCI slots and use a SATA card. I WILL take out one of my HDs and convert THAT SATA slot to a Lock-N-Load option, viz: http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=26477Icy Dock MB-672SKGF-B Silver/Black 3.5" SATA II EasySwap trayless 5.25" Caddy inc Blue LCD & Lock[/link]

I can't be messing about any longer . . .

Unless you think otherwise?

Grazie

I went through this a few months ago.

SATA 150 is the first generation of SATA drives. SATA 300 is the second generation. SATA 300 (aka SATA 2) is probably what you want for a caddy because the interface supports hot swapping of drives (or at least is more likely to support it)

SATA 300 controller cards are pretty rare for a PCI slot. More common for a PCIe slot. I think if all you've got available is the PCI slot then you're probably stuck with the SATA150 card.

If you find a PCI card that says it supports SATA 300 or SATA 2.0 I'd take it with a grain of salt.

SATA300 drives will work on an SATA150 controller.

Rob

Yeah, thanks Rob. That is EXACTLY where I;'ve got to with my research. Yes only PCI slots. The PCIe is taken by the GraphCard. But this ICY box seems the Full Monty for me. What do you think of the specs?

Apart from anything else all I need to do is unplug the existing Hard Drive and plug this in; then I slot IN the removed HD and start archiving off of that.

I hadn't realised the variations available. And yes I will be wary of the variations. Thanks for the heads on that.

So you went through it too huh?

Grazie

http://www.icydock.com/product/images/mb672skgf_kit.jpgThis from IcyDock website. Looks kinda cute . . . [/link]

Grazie

Well, except for the drive being inserted backwards in the "Hassle-free Installation" photo, it looks like just the ticket.

I have some of the same type of tray-less drive docks from Addonics, they don't have the LCD display and are less expensive than the IcyDock.

The Addonics model "AESNAPMRSA" from Amazon is $30, the IcyDock model as you referenced above is $50 at NewEgg and $40 without the LCD.

http://www.addonics.com/products/mobile_rack/aesnapmrsa.asp

I have an ICYDock external case. It's not entirely tool-less but it's been trouble free and it's presentable. It gets a little hot.

At home I *was* using a Venus something-or-other with three removable drives. They were hot swappable even with my motherboard's onboard SATA150 ports. It's not the end of the world if drives aren't hot swappable, it just means that you can't add or remove them via SATA while the system is running. If Hot Swap works then you get that added flexibility.

If you have Hot Swap you'll probably use it so rarely that you'll think you can live without it. If you don't have it you'll probably want it. Greener grass and all that.

A modern motherboard is probably the best solution but you should suck all the life out of what you've got first.

Rob

I purchased 6 of these for the office. Very convenient. They have worked 100% no problem using USB, but the eSata has been iffy. Transfer speeds are typical USB, but depending on your application or need they may work.

I also want to add that three of them were refurbs for $12 each and that greatly influenced my initial decision.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071

Zelkien69 : I am really wanting to keep this as near to the mobo in terms of speed streams as I can. I have a Firewire array of Enclosures, and the thought of maybe going to USB strikes fear in me? Irrational maybe, but I do want to get the best squeeze out of my existing box, which has this SATA option within it.

Rob: You make much sense. And I do fall into the category of "I'll never would have known" - Grass-Greener group! And yes thanks for the reassurance that at the end of the day, it really doesn't add up to much to have hot-swaps. As to a modern mobo, this is only 1 year old? (I think?) But i suppose that makes it ancient in these days of rapid improvements.

Mr John Cline . . . . : There are two things that I like about this option: 1 - it has rubber feet AND 2 - it could be a cheaper option.

Question, John, how quiet is the fan? Does it bother you?

I have located a UK distrib for the Addonics so hearing your feedback on the noise PLUS these guys appear to be all things "drives" and access to them, I may just appreciate the option of speaking directly with them and using their experience as a guide to my purchases. John, thanks for pointing this item out to me, without which I would have been none-the-wiser as to their presence I found, in the UK. I like dealing with people who aren't just shifting boxes. But are almost specialists in their field.

Is is as easy as just unplugging the existing SATA internal and replugging the feeds again? It just works? No jumpers or s/w needed? I replaced my DVD player/burner and that was straightforward. I'm hoping that this would be the same.

I'm just hoping that the existing SATA wiring is long enough and will stretch UP to the slot I would need to place it.

Great helps guys.

Grazie

Well, it gets better.

It would appear I do have ANOTHER SATA on my MoBo. So this is good!

Grazie

Arghhh....!

Correction: No I don't have a spare SATA on my mobo. So it looks as if I will need to go down the PCI card option . . . .

g

What mobo do you have i.e. make and model.
Most even from 12 months ago have more SATA ports than a sane man would ever use. I think my current one has something like 8.

SATA is very simple, no jumpers on either end of the cable. Nothing to config on the disk or the mobo. Just plug and play, for real, for once.

USB connections to disks are fine for backups and copying files. Not so good for playing out video as the USB interface uses CPU cycles that could be used for processing video. Firewire is better but daisychaining that can get iffy at times.

SATA is the best. If you've really run out of ports consider:

1) Buying a new mobo. Just check that your existing CPU and RAM will work. It could be the cheapest solution and probably give the best performance.

2) Swap out your current drives for bigger ones. 1,5TB drives are very cheap these days.

3) Port multipliers. I know zilch about these things but there is a way to expand one SATA connection to many. They could be hideously expensive as I've only heard of them used in SAS systems.

Bob.

No such thing as enough SATA ports. My main computer has 8 as well spread between the following.
1 DVD Drive
1 Blu-ray Drive
1 System hard drive (500GB)
1 Render Drive (500GB)
and my source drive with material is a Raid 5 with 4 (500GB) drives.
That's it, I'm out!

And for PCI interface what about this PCI based SATA 150 option. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815102102&cm_re=stata_card-_-15-102-102-_-Product

My mobo has 4 SATA ports. And no, I ain't gonna upgrade my mobo just for more SATA ports. See below Bob . . .

Yes I could upgrade a hd.

I have gotten a spec on a PCI card 2 Port SATA PCI Card Supports SATAI speeds of 1.5GB/s

and a . . .. hold on . .

* 1 eSATA / 3 SATA II RAID5/JBOD PCI controller Supports SATAI and SATAII disk speeds upto 3GB/s

That looks dandy enough for me?

Grazie

"That looks dandy enough for me?"

Should be fine.

Bob.

I no longer buy enclosures for hard disks - I run them in open air and they never overheat, according to my IR thermometer, even on long writes. I get power supplies from the USB adapters from China on ebay for under $10 usually, then hook up the SATA drives connected to my Supermicro 8 port PCI controller - see http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009&Tpk=sata%20controller%20supermicro. It is SATA II and works great on my Win7 64-bit (if you download the new driver for 64 bits).

Even though my PCI slot is supposedly not as fast as the PCI-133 slots that this card could be inserted into, according to the Canopus RexTest I get 93 mbs read and 66 mbs write on my software RAID-0 pair - probably limited by the disks inherent speed limitations rather than the card (however, 4 fast SATA disks in RAID 0 might result in a bottleneck at the controller). Only my SSDs are faster.

All the SATA connectors are at the end of the card, not so great for cramped computer spaces. But even with a few hard drives already in place immediately in front of the connectors, I was able to hook up all the cables BEFORE inserting the card into the PCI slot, then easily push it into the slot.

SATA cables are the pits, and one time when I was tinkering inside the computer I accidentally slid one of the SATA cables a bit so that it wasn't squarely inserted, and then it couldn't see one of my hard disks. I slightly repositioned the cable and all was OK after reboot.

With 8 cables permanently attached to the card and usually attached to a half-dozen bare drives outside the case, plus 6 more SATA ports on the MB hooked to internal drives, I rarely have to swap a drive. I'm happy.

"Well, except for the drive being inserted backwards in the "Hassle-free Installation" photo, it looks like just the ticket."

LOL

John are yours loud? Is the IcyDock loud? A computer builder told me that all the ones with fans are loud and the ones with out are not reliable? I have a Vantec EZ-Swap that is rather loud, not hot swappable and the tray is too long to fit all the way into my Antec case, a waste of $$

Jeff

I use the Addonics external housing (ZSNESU) that has usb & esata connections. Internally it has Addonics' dock that John Cline illustrated above.

It's very rugged and has a solid feeling. It is very noisy. I enjoy the ability to be able to add new drives, with no new costs, beyond the cost of the drive, and to be able to quickly change them in/out. The features and the solid construction allow me to tolerate the noise, but don't turn it on unless I must.