Many of you noticed SATA 300's appearing on the market, and were perhaps getting confused when you were searching specifically for SATA II's. The following quote explains how and why the confusion exists, and also raises the possibility of SATA 600's! Check it out;
Quote = Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA) - November 14th, 2008.
SATA II misnomer
Popular usage may refer to the 3.0 Gbit/s specification as "Serial ATA II" ("SATA II" or "SATA2"), contrary to the wishes of the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) which defines the standard. SATA II was originally the name of a committee defining updated SATA standards, of which the 3 Gbit/s standard was just one. However since it was among the most prominent features defined by the former SATA II committee, the name SATA II became synonymous with the 3 Gbit/s standard, so the group has since changed names to the Serial ATA International Organization, or SATA-IO, to avoid further confusion.
SATA 6Gb/s
SATA-IOpresented the draft specification of 6 Gbit/s physical layer in July 2008, and ratified its physical layer specification on August 18, 2008. The full 3.0 standard is expected to be available before the end of 2008. While even the fastest conventional hard disk drives can barely saturate the original SATA 1.5 Gbit/s bandwidth, Intel's Solid State Disk drives are close to saturating the SATA 3 Gb/s limit at 250 MB/s net read speed, and other new drives including Super Talent and Samsung are close to that as well. Ten channels of fast flash can actually reach well over 500 MB/s with new ONFI drives, so a move from SATA 3 Gb/s to SATA 6 Gb/s would benefit the flash read speeds. As for the standard hard disks, the reads from their built-in DRAM cache will end up faster across the new interface.
The new specification will include a handful of extensions to the command set, especially in the area of data and command queuing. The enhancements are generally aimed at improving quality of service for video streaming and high priority interrupts. In addition, the standard will continue to support distances up to a meter. The new speeds may require higher power consumption for supporting chips, factors that new process technologies and power management techniques are expected to mitigate. The new specification can use existing SATA cables and connectors, although some OEMs are expected to upgrade host connectors for the higher speeds. Also, the new standard is backwards compatible with SATA 3.0 Gbit/s.
In order to avoid parallels to the common "SATA II" misnomer, the SATA International Organization has compiled a set of marketing guidelines for the new specification. The specification should be called "Serial ATA International Organization: Serial ATA Revision 3.0", and the technology itself is to be referred to as "SATA 6Gb/s." A product using this standard should be called the "SATA 6Gb/s [product name]." The terms "SATA III" or "SATA 3.0", that are considered to cause confusion among consumers, should not be used. |
LANDWARRIOR
WN| WARRIORS NETWORK
COMMANDER
|
|