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xps 8500 2tb hard disk SATA spec
Have a question around SATA III
Looking at xps 8500 with 2TB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive + 32GB mSATA SSD (Intel SRT)
2tb hd looks as if it plugs into sata 0 which is sata III according to the manual. Is the hard disk Sata III also?
Initially was told it was sata III disk with a sata II controller. Queried this as the manual suggests otherwise and sales guy asked me to email him the manual.
He came back and said it was sata III disk in sata III slot but seemed reluctant to confirm by email as i said i run virtual machines and wanted the extra dsk performance this was key to me choosing xps or vostro 470. The latter states in the spec it is 2tb sata III 6gbps.
Can anyone confirm what the configuration actually is in the xps 8500. I read elsewhere in this informative forum all the confusion around the mSata and number of MObo sata IIs and IIIs connections. But seems the confusion lives on with the 2tb hard disk. I have a nagging doubt now.
Many thanks
DiggerMeUp
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December 1st, 2012 04:00
Hi Osprey4,
Thanks for your reply - I hope they do: I was looking at this bundle
I have been told a couple of times that it is only a sata II controller and when i query that they then say it is a sata 3.0 disk at 6 gbps in a SATA III port (the latter I can confirm from the manual). Just makes me wonder what hard disk will actually be in the machine. Just be nice to get a definitive answer.
Vostro 470 site details specifically state this but maybe that is as its for business consumers primarily.
All seems strange as this should be easy to confirm.
osprey4
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December 1st, 2012 04:00
Hi DiggerMeUp,
Dell uses a variety of hard drives, but I'm quite sure they'll put an SATA 6 drive in an SATA 6 slot. Of the hard drive SATA ports, only the first is SATA 6, as is the mSATA slot.
osprey4
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December 1st, 2012 05:00
As I said, only one port is SATA III, port 0, plus the mSATA slot.
DiggerMeUp
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December 1st, 2012 06:00
Presumably when they talk of a controller they refer to what controls that port.
DiggerMeUp
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December 1st, 2012 06:00
Hi Osprey4
Understand that and saw that from the manual.
The mystery is around what 2TB hard disk they actually plug into that port.
HanoverB
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December 1st, 2012 12:00
The 1 TB hard drive that came in my XPS8500 delivered in October is a Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda using Sata Port 0. Model number is ST31000524AS. That drive will support 6gb/s. it is rated a little faster than the Western Digital Black Drive. The 2 TB drive should also be the same drive.
DiggerMeUp
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December 1st, 2012 13:00
Hi HanoverB, thanks for your reply - that is good to know, and those WD Blacks are fast. I have been using an external WD in an enclosure (with only a sataII controller) and windows 7 runs faster in vmware player than on my laptop dell studio 1537 for non graphical intensive stuff.
osprey4
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December 1st, 2012 14:00
Please keep in mind that mechanical drives DO NOT RUN ANYWHERE NEAR 6 Gb/s. Not even close. The SATA III spec only impacts SSDs, not spinning drives.
DiggerMeUp
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December 1st, 2012 14:00
Hi Osprey,
Thats a very valid point.
Does that mean then in practice if I had 2 identical sata 3.0 drives, one in port 0 (sataIII) and the other in port 1(sata II) ignoring msata caching for the sake of the discussion then i would not notice any difference between the two?
osprey4
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December 1st, 2012 15:00
Probably not would be my guess.
HanoverB
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December 1st, 2012 16:00
The Seagate drives support the 6 GB/s interface. As Osprey pointed out support doesn't mean run at 6 gb/s. All that means is that it is able to take advantage of the additional bandwith provided by that port. Unfortunately, it may not make that much of a difference in performance in real world testing versus using the same drive in a 3 GB/s port.
Just wanted to answer your question that it will be a drive that does support that interface.