# Installing a SATA-II hard drive into SATA-I Mobo



## PC Hobbyist

I have an HP Pavillion a250n (specs here, and mobo specs here).
I bought it in 2003 and have always only had IDE hard drives in it. Now, I want to replace these with a new SATA-II internal drive. As you see in the picture/link below, the mobo supports two SATA-I drives.





Here are my questions:



As far as I know, a SATA-II drive will work on a SATA-I mobo, but it will just run at SATA-I speed - correct?
Do all SATA-II drives have a switch you flip to make them backwards compatible? Or are there some that are not backwards compatible?
Am I limited on the size of the SATA-II I can use? I want to get a 1TB drive.
Can I run my IDE drives and up to two SATA-II drives all simultaneously on my mobo?
If I install XP on that PC, I assume I need to install RAID controllers during installation - or am I way off?  I'll probably just have a dual-boot Vista and Win7 RC.
Thanks for your help.


----------



## StrangleHold

1. Yes
2. Most do have a jumper on the back to force Sata 1.5 speed. Some older chipsets had problems with Sata 3.0 drives if so you just set the jumper to Sata 1.5.
3. I dont think you would have a problem with a 1TB drive, you could email HP and make sure there is not a drive size limit with the bios.
4. Yes
5. Not point installing RAID drivers unless your going to run the drives in RAID. You will need to install your SATA drivers, unless it has the SATA ports running in Native IDE mode.


----------



## PC Hobbyist

Great! Thank you for all your answers, StrangleHold.


----------



## PC Hobbyist

I want to buy a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB internal HDD.  Since I want to use this SATA-II hard drive on a SATA-I mobo, I have been trying to find out if the Caviar Black 1TB is backwards compatible.  I can't seem to find the info anywhere, and in order to ask WD support, I need to give them the serial number of the product (of course I don't have one because I don't want to buy one until I know if it will work).

Does anyone here know if it will work?


----------



## StrangleHold

Dont know if they still do, havent had to use it in awhile. But all Western Digitals, to force Sata 1.5 you put a jumper on pin 5 and 6.


----------



## PC Hobbyist

Thanks, Stranglehold. I couldn't find that info anywhere. After reading your post, I was able to do a much more specific search than I had done before, and within 10 seconds I finally came across the WD page I need. Believe or not, I had only been searching topics like "caviar black backwards compatible" and so on, but I never searched "caviar black jumper settings" until now. Oh man, I couldn't see the forest for the trees. 
Jumper settings for Caviar Black 1TB  (just like you mentioned)

So, I'll be ordering a Caviar Black. I  believe they don't come with a SATA cable, so I'll need to pick one up at Amazon. I assume there are SATA-I and SATA-II cables, just like there are usb 1.1 and usb 2.0 cables, right?  I know.... all these years dealing with computers, and I've always only had IDE hard drives.  

Thanks again for your help.


----------



## StrangleHold

Sata 1.5/I and Sata 3.0/II cables are the same. The Sata 3.0/II just have the locking tab, which I would rather use.


----------



## PC Hobbyist

StrangleHold said:


> Sata 1.5/I and Sata 3.0/II cables are the same. The Sata 3.0/II just have the locking tab, which I would rather use.



Oh okay, I thought a SATA 1.5 cable would not handle 3 Gbit speed. Good to know they are the same. I would also prefer one with a locking tab, so I'll get a SATA-II cable.

Thanks.


----------



## GreekIdiot

There is no considerable price difference between the two types I assume? And it would benefit greatly of course if you could buy a motherboard that supports SATA-II...
Last thing, and I'm terribly sorry for this, but what's the difference with a RAIDS installation?


----------



## PC Hobbyist

GreekIdiot said:


> There is no considerable price difference between the two types I assume? And it would benefit greatly of course if you could buy a motherboard that supports SATA-II...
> Last thing, and I'm terribly sorry for this, but what's the difference with a RAIDS installation?



Yeah, I need a new PC. Mine is 6 years old, and although it does fine for general home use, it is beginning to show its limitations with computer power and compatibility with newer technology. I just can't justify spending the money at this point. But... soon, hopefully. 

If you run drives using RAID technology, you have to press F6 during the XP installation to install the RAID drivers separately, otherwise XP won't recognize your RAID. Vista, on the other hand, includes RAID drivers on the installation disk.
Oh, I assume you know what RAID is. If not, your can read a quick definition/explanation here or more in depth  in Wikipedia here.


----------

