WD SATA III 640GB HDD compatible with Asus M2N

marioeres · 16 Feb 2011

Im upgrading my hardware,so I'm wondering if it's a good idea to buy a WD HDD 640GB SATA III,and connect it to my mobo.

My mobo is Asus M2N,it has SATA connectors,and I have connected one WD SATA II HDD,it works just fine.

I'd like to know if this mobo supports SATA III HDDs.My priority at the moment is not full speed and advantages of SATA III HDDs,but the question if I could use it on this mobo.It's ok if my mobo downgrades HDD's capablities,cause I'm planning to replace the mobo in the next few months.

Have'nt found any topic that's dealing with this kind of issue,so if I'm wrong,I'd appreciate a link that describes the issue.

Looking forward to any response,thx.

Mario

Wishmaster · 16 Feb 2011

TBH, Im not sure SATA 3 is really woth it for a mechanical HD.

I mean, they can not operate fast enough to saturate SATA 2, much less SATA 3.

Even a great number of SSDs, which are leaps and bounds faster, aren't really saturating SATA2. Although they are starting to now.

Perhaps others with more knowledge on the subject can provide insight of the advantages though.

From the specs I looked at, it doesnt appear it has SATA 3 ports. You may find out for sure in the owners manual though.

Sardonicus · 16 Feb 2011

Your mobo is not an SATA III motherboard. However the "WD HDD 640GB SATA III" will work at SATA II speeds.
SATA III drives are backwards compatible.

Phone Man · 16 Feb 2011

p5bdkw said:

Your mobo is not an SATA III motherboard. However the "WD HDD 640GB SATA III" will work at SATA II speeds.
SATA III drives are backwards compatible.

There is one caveat to that. Some older SATA II motherboards do not have auto speed negotiation and will not see the SATA III drives. If that happens WD drives have a jumper option to set the speed to SATA II.

Jim

marioeres · 16 Feb 2011

p5bdkw said:

Your mobo is not an SATA III motherboard. However the "WD HDD 640GB SATA III" will work at SATA II speeds.
SATA III drives are backwards compatible.

So it basically means my mobo will actually downgrade performances,but the HDD will be usable?

marioeres · 16 Feb 2011

Phone Man said:

p5bdkw said:

Your mobo is not an SATA III motherboard. However the "WD HDD 640GB SATA III" will work at SATA II speeds.
SATA III drives are backwards compatible.

There is one caveat to that. Some older SATA II motherboards do not have auto speed negotiation and will not see the SATA III drives. If that happens WD drives have a jumper option to set the speed to SATA II.

Jim

Which means HDD SATA III will be set up at SATA II speed with jumper setting,and work fine?

If thats the answer,I'm pretty sure I'll buy it.

I will upgrade my mobo anyway in a couple of months.

Phone Man · 16 Feb 2011

marioeres said:

Phone Man said:

p5bdkw said:

Your mobo is not an SATA III motherboard. However the "WD HDD 640GB SATA III" will work at SATA II speeds.
SATA III drives are backwards compatible.

There is one caveat to that. Some older SATA II motherboards do not have auto speed negotiation and will not see the SATA III drives. If that happens WD drives have a jumper option to set the speed to SATA II.

Jim

Which means HDD SATA III will be set up at SATA II speed with jumper setting,and work fine?

If thats the answer,I'm pretty sure I'll buy it.

I will upgrade my mobo anyway in a couple of months.

Yes it should run at SATA II. Just plug it in and if it doesn't see the drive then set the jumper on the drive to SATA II and all is well. If you have to use the jumper be sure to remove it after you get your new SATA III motherboard.

Jim

GeneO · 16 Feb 2011

It should work, you won't have any loss in speed operating in a SATA II mode. In a year ,nearly all drives will be SATA 3 whether they can benefit from the speed or not (not)