320 GB Sata 2 cable?

[Just Learnin']

Hi :wave:

Just installed a Seagate 320 Gb Sata 2 drive on a P4P800-E Deluxe on the ICH5R controller. I used the cable that came with the MB as the OEM drive had none with it. It works but I was wondering if it is necessary to use a "special" SATA 2 cable? Also the size of the drive shows as 298.08 GB in the Disk Management window, is this normal? :scratch: Also I don't get the safely remove drive option some have spoken of....??? I installed it as the system drive and HD Tach shows a measly 66 mb per second transfer rate.

Thanks for looking! :beer:

[BB_One]

Only one type of Sata Cable - Sata 1 or Sata 2 is a firmware function NOT a hardware function per say in terms of connectivity.

Not sure what size should show for the 320 but 298 sounds a tad low.....
However it appears to be the norm it seems for that drive - google around I found a few people with same results as you - here is example look at first user feedback, then go down some an look at other dude who seems to have had better luck by splitting the drive in 2.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

Sata not showing as a hot swap drive might be a lack of function on the Sata controller - ICH5R, something to look into.

Up to now on AMD platform there seems to be no issue, on the Intel platform however not sure.....

Edit: ummm...Subsider has similar mobo P4C and has no issue - dunno what controller is on that board however....

[BB_One]

Hi :wave:

I installed it as the system drive and HD Tach shows a measly 66 mb per second transfer rate.



Do not confuse BURST speed of 300 MB/sec with SUSTAIN transfer rate .

Sata II calls for BURST speed of 300 and Sata I for BURST speed of 150.

But sustain transfer rate is roughly between 55 and 65 depending on drives and cache they have !

What HD Tach is showing you is SUSTAIN transfer rate.....

[Just Learnin']

:bow: @ BB_One!! Thanks. :rock:

[Subsider]

ummm...Subsider has similar mobo P4C and has no issue - dunno what controller is on that board however....
actually i have that drive in a dif pc than the one in my rig specs . it's on a nf4pro 2200 on a tyan k8we 2895 mobo.
The drive showing as 298 . is normal and i believe it not showing as hotswap/removable is also normal with your chipset

[Just Learnin']

Thanks Subsider, I thought the non removable staus may have been due to it having been installed as a System disk rather than storage.

[BB_One]

Hi :wave:

Just installed a Seagate 320 Gb Sata 2 drive on a P4P800-E Deluxe on the ICH5R controller. I used the cable that came with the MB as the OEM drive had none with it. It works but I was wondering if it is necessary to use a "special" SATA 2 cable? Also the size of the drive shows as 298.08 GB in the Disk Management window, is this normal? :scratch: Also I don't get the safely remove drive option some have spoken of....??? I installed it as the system drive and HD Tach shows a measly 66 mb per second transfer rate.

Thanks for looking! :beer:


This was bugging me and found both answers and one which has come through to my thick head finally.

So......

Not showing as Hot swapable, as suspected in order to be recongizable as Hot Swap the ICH needs to have the AHCI functionality - you guessed it ICH5R does not have it.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/CS-012304.htm

Hard drive size, I have for sometime now been trying to find a standard answer and means to explain how to calculate what you are actually getting. Short answer 93% ! What ever capacity is claimed by the vendor multiply it by 93% and round it upwards to whole number. In this scenario 320 x 93% = 297.6 (298).

Ok, you say but where did I pull this magic number from? Well I pulled it from my aaaaa no, no, be nice, from my mathematical low level skills!

Here is the scoop:

Hard Drive makers identify and calculate utilizing Decimal numbering scheme hence 1 GB = 1 Billion bytes. The Operating system however such as Windows or Mac, calculate utilizing Binary format as such 1 GB = 1.07 Billion Bytes, as such hard drive maker is way shy when reported by the OS.

1/1.07= 0.9345579943925 and spare change !
750 GB x 93% = 698 GB
500 GB x 93% = 465 GB
74 GB x 93% = 69 GB

Wammo easy method to calculate going forward !

Man was I thick trying to explain that one , when it is so simple ! :hide: (where's the kick own butt icon?? )

[Just Learnin']

Thanks BB! :thumbs: Was surprised to see this thread pop up again. :yikes:

[Esso]

My 200 GB Seagate HDD drive is showing 186 GB in windows, and the 250 GB disks shows up as 232 GB.

A rule of thumb that I use is that ~7 GB per 100 GB, is lost.
So your 320 GB should be ~ 299 GB.

The reason for this is because the size calculation differences between the manufactures and Windows.

Seagate: ....... 320 GB = 320 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000 = 320 000 000 000 bytes
Windows: ...... 320 GB = 320 * 1024 * 1024 *1024 = 343 597 383 680 bytes.

So Seagate has made an error calculation of 23 597 383 680 bytes ~ 21.98 GB

If you dived 320 000 000 000 by (1024 * 1024 * 1024) you will get the correct GB.

In the technical school I learned that 1 kilobyte = 1024 (hence 8 bits), but apparently is not so in the economic schools.
But you know what ? they are no so good with numbers, just take a look on the stock market :D

Microsoft stands correct. :scratch:

Western Digital has just lost a case were they didn't inform the customers, about the real storage size of their 80 GB HDD, sold in 2001.
Now days the text is in very small printing, or tucked away so you wouldn't find it so easily.

But I honestly feel that the hard disk manufactures shouldn't be able to get away with it.
They should be forced to use the term, IGB i.e. Incorrect Giga Byte. :na:

I fear the day when we hit 2-5 TB hard disks ..... 92.68 GB lost per 1 TB ... :yikes:
One 3 GB HDD bytes will almost equal your Seagate 320 GB in lost storage area.

Note, All manufactures are the same.