Hello All:
I have a question, can I use a wd black sata 6.0 drive on a motherboard that is only 3.0. In other words is the wd sata 6.0 drive backward compatible with older motherboards?
Hello, welcome to the community.
The WD Black SATA 6 Gb/s are compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s.
Hi:
Thank you for that response and your welcomiong me to the community, it was truly appreciated. I have another question for you. My motherboard is only a sata 2.0 sata slot motherboard. I have heard that I can purchase a sata controller card to get the full 6.0 speed. I have looked at a few controllers and have gotten mixed reviews about whjether or not the controller will give me the full 6.0 speed. I don’t need a raid controller as I lready have one in the system and want to use this drive as my boot drive. Can you tell me the name of any sata controller that will give me the true 6.0 speed of the drive?
Hi, unfortunately I do not know any name for SATA controller that could help you archive SATA 6 Gb/s. Maybe another user can point you in the right direction.
i:
Should I re-post the question in the community as a new question?
The problems with SATA add-on cards include:
- No one can guarantee that your motherboard will work with a specific add-on card.
- If your motherboard is old, as it appears to be, the PCIe slots will only run at half the rate of a PCI 2.0 one, limiting the potential bandwidth. Look at the Wikipedia page on SATA for actual data rates.
- The chipset used can limit the bandwidth. For example, some chipsets simply split the bandwidth in half or fourths, so if you use only one port, you only receive 1/2 or 1/4 of the available bandwidth.
- Many add-on cards have multiple ports, but only a set number can function at a time (another restriction of the chipset).
My advice is to go to Newegg and search for relevant cards using the below link.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007531%20600022029%208000&IsNodeId=1&page=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=90
Remember that the comments are not always reliable. Some people have no idea what they are doing and leave negative comments regardless. Products from SIIG and Vantec have worked well for me, but Masscool and StarTech should be okay too.
P.S. I have had no trouble using SATA II and SATA III drives, even SSDs, on older SATA I motherboards. Drives from Western Digital have firmware that negotiates reliable communication.
HI PC-Cobbler:
I am using a ASUS DSBF-DE/SAS motherboard. The manual says that the PCI-e ports conform to the PCI 2.3 standard. I notice you mention about all the negative comments, that is why I asked the question. Can you tell me which card to buy to get the full 6.0 gb speed?
Okay, I misunderstood. I thought your PC had PCIe 1.x which only allows for 250 MB/s. PCIe 2.x has 500 MB/s. I would choose the Vantec UGT-ST622, but note the restriction on only being able to use two ports at a time. Since the chipset will split the 500 MB/s two ways, you’ll still get 250 MB/s which almost maxes-out SATA II, so even Western Digital Velociraptors could be used at peak performance.
I am assuming the chipset will split the bandwidth because they usually do. You might get lucky and have an intelligent chipset, but worst case is 250 MB/s.
By the way, you won’t know until you try if drives mounted that way can be used as boot drives. That’s usually the problem, if there is one. Also, don’t assume Windows will find a device driver; follow the instructions.
Hi PC-Cobbler:
Thanks for the response. So correct me if I am wrong, I will not find a pci-e sata controller that will get me the full 6.0 gb transfer rate, will I. Another question, I will only have one drive on the card and I want to use it as the boot drive, will I get the full 500 transfer rate and given your answer, I might have a problem using it as a boot drive?
As for the bandwidth, it depends on the chipset. The usual Silicon Image ones divide up the available bandwidth mathematically. If I were you, I’d ask the vendor (Vantec) what chipset they use and how it divides bandwidth. Vantec is one of the best vendors with respect to customer service, but add-on cards are limited by their chipsets.
That’s why you want to buy a card with SATA III capability (to obtain the largest bandwidth) and the fewest ports (to have that bandwidth split the least number of ways).
As for the boot, look at the comments on Newegg. The cards are supposed to work that way, but some people say they have trouble. I have never had that trouble, but I have used mainly Intel boards and Western Digital drives.
There are too many variables to give definitive answers. Few people have tested the exact combination of board, drive, and add-on card you have. Honestly, I do not know the answer to the questions. I investigated this for a SATA II Vantec card before, that’s why I know about the split bandwidth.
P.S. This is why you see negative comments on add-on cards. It’s not that the card is defective, but that it did not play well with others. The same is true of USB 3.0 cards.
H PC-Cobbler:
I want to thank you for all your assistance. I spoke with Startech and they advised that I should get the bandwidth that I was looking for, however, I have my doubts about that. They did say that I should have a problem with using the wd black drive as the boot drive or the format the drive. We didn’t discuss the splitting of the bandwidth. I believe that they use the ASMEDIA ASM1061 chipset. Do you know anything about that chipset?
ASMedia chipsets are generally very good. I seem to remember that Thermaltake uses them in its docks, with those docks being reliable. That said, I don’t know if that chipset stupidly splits the bandwidth or has intelligence which allows a single device to hog the bandwidth. The ASMedia website appears to suggest (“Single virtual channel”) that the bandwidth is intelligently split.
http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show_products.php?cate_index=117&item=118
You may or may not obtain a lucid answer if you contact ASMedia. Their Contact Us webpage includes, “Your opinions and suggestions are giant power for us to move forward!”
Hi PC-cobbler:
Once again, I would like to thank 
you for all your help that you have given me. I decided to go with the Startech controller, I spoke with them again and they advised me that if there was only one drive attached to the controller that it would be given all the available bandwidth. I hope that it will work. The drive has arrived and the card is coming tomorrow, I will let you know how things work . Once again thanks for all your help, Allen
