Does my mobo support SATA?

[piano632]

I am confused when looking at my mobo. It claims to support SATA, but I see no SATA connectors. Am I missing something here?

This is my mobo:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=865GM2-LS&class=mb

Also, what do you think the future is for IDE and SATA hard drives? I plan to buy another large drive (300-500GB) and I'm not sure which way to go. I like putting my drives in external enclosures, and there's very few SATA externals right now.

[redwudz]

If that's your board in the link, the SATA connectors appear to be just below the PC battery. They are about 1/2"x 1/4" and usually red in color.

As far as drives, SATA is probably taking over. If you check the prices, they are about the same as PATA (IDE) drives. The main variation is in the power supply connectors. Some drives have the traditional IDE 4 pin Molex connectors while some have a newer, smaller style. If your PS has the Molex style and your SATA drive has the newer style, you need an adapter. A lot of drives come with the adapter, so no real problem.

As far as speed, they are usually the same drive as the IDE version, just with a SATA interface. Maybe some speed increase, but doubtful. I like them for the small interface cable, much better than the bulky IDE style.

EDIT: Actually there are a few external SATA boxes out there. Most people use them with a PCI SATA card. That way the cables just plug into the rear of the PC. You won't see hardly any IDE external boxes. Most of us use Firewire for external boxes. SATA and IDE both need fairly short interface cables, so external boxes are discouraged. Firewire and USB can tolerate a little longer cable and that's one reason they are used externally.

[piano632]

There's something screwy going on here. The model no. in the link above seems to match my mobo but my board is green with no SATA connectors that I can find. Otherwise the layout of the board looks similar. (Notice I have politely refrained from cursing at this point.)

Looks like I'd have to buy a SATA PCI card. So is SATA worth it compared to PATA? I already use high-quality round shielded IDE cables, so the SATA cables probably wouldn't be much of an improvement. If there's no real improvement with SATA, why are so many people buying into it?

And there is an excellent external enclosure that uses a total SATA connection (and it's cheap too):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817155903

[waheed]

If you have a digital camera, you can take a picture of your mobo and post it here so we can see if its the same model. Just a thought.

As mentioned, theres no real improvement in SATA, so you may want to consider IDE if your Mobo does not have SATA.

[normcar]

IDE drives are usually cheaper than the same size SATA, and the speed is only slightly faster. I am purchasing IDE drives for now. Even the new SATA2 drives give little speed improvement when used as a single drive.

[redwudz]

piano632, you might want to take a closer look at your MB and see what the model number really is. I've circled the SATA connectors.

The MSI site may be mixed up or you have a different MB. Anyway, if you have an open PCI slot you can add either a IDE or SATA controller card fairly easily. If you use an IDE card, be aware if you get a 133Mhz only card, it won't work with slower devices such as optical drives. I use a IDE card that is backwards compatible with DVD or CD drives and the slower 66Mhz and 33Mhz busses.

[piano632]

Model no. as written on the board says MS-6743-VER : 300

The only board they show on their website with a similar no. is the MS-6743G which is the one pictured above. Apparently not the same board, since the one I have is green (not red) and has no SATA connectors.

Oh well, I ordered a WD 320GB PATA from ZipZoomFly for $149 since I can't wait any longer. I'm running out of storage space for my video collection.

Other deals this week that were tempting:
Maxtor 300GB PATA w/ 16MB cache at Office Depot for $150 (free shipping)
WD 320GB SATA at Monarch Computer for $144 (free shipping)