Web Hosting question: hard drives
 

Are SATA drives much better than IDE drives?

What difference does it make for the server?

Ide was limited to 2 drives, sata can be raid configured to allow many more. I'm guessing, if only there were a place where we could search for answers :)

SAS Drives are faster as well -- typical SATA drive speeds are still 7200RPM whereas SAS drives are usually offered in the 10,000 to 15,000 RPM range. However, these drives are typically more expensive as well.

Whatever you go with, make sure your web host provider is using Enterprise grade hardware and not consumer grade.

Your decision to go with either type of drive, or even SSD drives, will be influenced by the tasks you expect the server to perform efficiently. Example: do you need to perform heavy SQL processing, a lot of php processing, dynamic page delivery, video streaming, how much traffic you get, do you just need a lot of basic storage, etc. There are a lot of variables.

Thank you for the extensive answer.

:thumbsup

In truth, not much difference if you are just going blogs or videos. Real difference would be if your site is below Alexa 10,000 rating with lots of dynamic content.

what ????

Well, I must be a genious, because in 2001 I made a raid of 4 x 40gb drives ( that was big at the time ) ...

IDE are slower, but SCSI can be real fast, tough more expensive.
Sata drives are cheap and big
SSD would be the way for real speed

SATA and IDE come in many different price points -- green(cheapest), blue, and black label (better quality), but generally are expected to be shut down/cool off on a somewhat regular basis.

Even though they are not built specifically for server use, I know people who have bought black label SATA drives in their servers just fine ...

I would NEVER use a green label HDD in a server, as they have power-saving technology that spins down the drive whenever it has been idle for 30 or 60 seconds, and all that wear and tear on the drive - not to mention the delays it will cause in accessing your data.

Blue label HDDs are the most common retail level drives. My experience is that there is no real guarantee how these drives will last. I have clients with 1-2 year old laptops that need new hard drives, while I have some Hitachi and WD Blues that are 5-6 years old and still running strong ... YMMV

Black label HDDs are the favorite of gamers and custom builders, and are built for more demanding consumers, but are still not intended for servers running 24/7.

SAS drives -- the successor of SCSI -- are commercial grade drives that are better built with better bearings and heat dispersion, and intended for server use ....

Sure you will pay more for them, but they will most likely outlast any SATA drive.

Western Digital Raptor drives are 10k RPM SATA. We have plenty of those. SATA up to 6 Gb/s interface and 64 MB cache optimize the 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor, ultra-cool operation, manufactured for high workload environments and they come with a five-year limited warranty. The new 1TB Raptors begin to hit closer to SATA II SSD speeds.

there is no reason anyone should be selling servers old enough to have IDE drives

Like I said, "typical" SATA drives are still offered at 7200 RPM moreso than you tend to see 10K RPM SATA drives offered, let alone 10K RPM enterprise grade SATA drives.

That said, I personally prefer enterprise grade SAS 15,000 RPM and SSD drives over anything SATA, but that's just me. That said, it usually costs me more to do so. But as was mentioned by myself and others, it really depends on what the OP needs. Certainly you don't need SSD drives or 15,000 RPM drives for basic storage, for example.

Sorry, no offence intended but...

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

SATA and IDE are just the types of HDD connectors for HDD drives...

IDE are old ones:
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/black...tor-332017.jpg

SATA are new ones:
http://www.sierra-cables.com/Cables/...al-Cable-1.jpg

So you should get SATA drives...
If any provider still offers IDE HDD-s - avoid them at any cost since they are renting rather old servers...

Performance of HDD is often neglected but it's very important since it's the bottleneck of the today's servers (until we go fully SSD)