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First Look At S-ATA Optical Storage Drive

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the someday-this'll-be-commonplace dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CD Freaks has a first look at a S-ATA optical storage drive. Although several S-ATA HD's have been released lately there have been no signs of S-ATA CD-RW and DVD-R/DVD+R drives. S-ATA seems to be the solution for the data transfers involved with 16x DVD recording and the fast 52x CD-RW drives. However there seem still to be some compatibility issues. "

14 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Compatability Issues by Allen+Zadr · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I found the most interesting part (the second half of the article) was that SiiG has "no interest in supporting optical drives", when the reviewer was having problems using this drive with a SiiG controller.

    I guess I can now confirm that I have no interest in buying anything from SiiG.

    --
    Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
    1. Re:Compatability Issues by DarkBlackFox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For the majority of users, there is no need to use further bandwith on optical drives. Even my 52x32x52 CDRW only runs at ATA-33. Why spend money to develop an ATA-150 model if it doesn't even use that much bandwith to begin with?

      Even 52x CD burning is only 7,800 kb/sec. I can see where a SATA drive would be helpful for high speed DVD burning, but even then, if they even developed an ATA-133 model, that should suffice for a number of years.

      Don't get me wrong, I love to see newer/faster/better, but I know why companies would want to create a faster transfer method for a device which barely uses the capability of the bus provided anyway.

    2. Re:Compatability Issues by Allen+Zadr · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Well when you have two devices on the same bus, both competing for bandwidth, it's possible to run into the dreaded, buffer underrun. SATA, IIRC, doesn't have this problem.

      Of course, for most of us the buffer underrun is a Max CPU utilization issue, but that's beside the point.

      --
      Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
    3. Re:Compatability Issues by pknoll · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Last I checked, rounded IDE cables were still half the price of SATA cables. Since they're available, arguing for SATA because of its cable design is rather a moot point.

    4. Re:Compatability Issues by moreati · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Rounded IDE is a hack. the length of the cable is even more limited than normal because of increased cross talk (interference between signal wires). Also, in my experieince, the rounded cables are even less flexible than the ribbons.

      SATA can go longer distances, at faster speeds, with less bulk, more routing flexiblity & it works for all drives (PATA is too big for 2.5" drives). Additional it's electrically safe for hotplugging. As a bonus we finally get rid of those damn molex connectors.

      At the moment it's more expensive, that will change.

      Where SATA will of most use is in compact form factor machines - mini/nano-itx, micro-atx, laptops, high density rackmount storage servers etc.

    5. Re:Compatability Issues by Clockwurk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps cable wiring isn't a good example, but motherboard wiring sure is. Routing 4-6 leads is much nicer than the 40 required for the p-ata spec. S-ATA connectors don't have exposed pins that can get bent or broken, and doesn't have the cable at a right angle to the connector allowing closer spacing.

    6. Re:Compatability Issues by knewman_1971 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What I do see being a huge problem is that Windows XP setup doesn't seem to support SATA devices without using a driver floppy to allow it to recognize SATA ports as a Mass Storage Controller. -- an annoyance for people who have discarded their floppy drives long ago.

      Not a problem. Make your own unattened install, and add the SATA drivers. Been doing it for a year now, and it's a wondrous thing.
      Check out MSFN.org for more info.

      My unattended install (which has grown to a DVD) installs WinXP fully patched, DirectX 9.0b, Office 2k3 (customized to my settings), all of my apps except Firefox, and tweaks my system out. It does it in 45 minutes, with only 1 user intervention (carving drives). It mtakes a couple of days to set it up initially, but once you're done, the maintenance is very low.

      --
      where is the "I feel for ya, but that's some funny ass shit" moderation?
  2. A solution?? by dFaust · · Score: 3, Insightful
    S-ATA seems to be the solution for the data transfers involved with 16x DVD recording and the fast 52x CD-RW drives.

    Since when have optical drives been needing more bandwidth than PATA can offer?? A friend of mine has TWO 52x cd burners setup on ATA 100, and can burn full speed on both of them simultaneously. So, um, how exactly do SATA optical drives solve anything? (note that I am all in favor of SATA opticals, if for no other reason than the cabling)

  3. Future Outlook by 9812713 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I think that dispite the fact that many manufactures can not decide where technology is going, they should be making the standard.

    Good example is DVD formats, DVD+R, -R, -RW, +RW, RAM (2x 4x 8x... I havent seen much development in 8x media, tho the drives have been out for about 4 months). In order for any format to survive, we need the pioneers to force the standard to be adapted, and only then can the industry move forward.

    Hard Drives are the same way, I haven't seen any drive trying to change from the "standard" magnetic technology. Sure some are Trying different ideas, to reach that 1 terabyte drive and some trying holographic technology. (Story is dated back in 1996 -- http://www.businessweek.com/1996/16/b347193.htm)

    People are relying on the Push of technology to drive their home computers, office computers, and Heck, most cars come with a better computer then what I am running.. So why not push all this new technology.

  4. Computer Builders may soon rejoice! by Vandil+X · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think SATA-based optical drives will be a huge boon to people who build their own PCs, especially those who use AMD processors and/or overclock various elements of their systems.

    The reduced cable clutter alone will improve airflow over RAM and around the drives themselves.

    What I do see being a huge problem is that Windows XP setup doesn't seem to support SATA devices without using a driver floppy to allow it to recognize SATA ports as a Mass Storage Controller. -- an annoyance for people who have discarded their floppy drives long ago.

    But, as with all new technology, we'll see how things turn out in the coming months. Hopefully, this will make an official appearance on the first x86-compatible mobos with PCI-Express slots.

    --
    Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
    1. Re:Computer Builders may soon rejoice! by Ironica · · Score: 3, Insightful

      SATA reduces size of the cable, but increases number of cables. You can put two devices on PATA cable, but only one device on SATA cable.

      And two SATA cables are still much nicer than one IDE cable...

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
  5. Re:What is taking so long? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What huge demand?

    Every time we have an article on DVD+/- media, or BluRay, or something, we have all these moaners complaining about optical compatibility; they are avoiding, rather than buying, due to some mystical compatibility issue.

    If your system can read and write it's own disks, that's all you need! If you can't read someone else's disks, why exactly would *not* buying a DVD+/- drive change that?

    I've been using DVD-R for 1 and a half years now, and it's great. Backup of my home directory (which is only 12gb) is easy and convenient.

    As per lifetime... my data becomes obsolete within a year, and then it's time for another backup. If you want serious data backup, you'll need a good sized hard drive array and use some data center type software, not optical drives.

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
  6. Re:What is taking so long? by jandrese · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who's talking about datacenter backups? This is about home backups, and the cost of the drive is significant when you're buying it for yourself. There's no way I want to backup a few TB of data on DVDr-s, but I also don't want to spend $60 per tape to backup my personal home directory. It's all about the right technology for the job.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  7. Re:Three letters: DRM by ph4s3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think you're fooling yourself. All you tin-foil hat types like to think that the world's coporations are conspiring against you.

    I promise you that if the business case was there for SATA drives, optical or not, removable or not, then the manufacturers would be rushing them to market. Their motivation to get into your wallet is quite large. Why would they want to wait for DRM to be implemented? It's just one more technology that, if integrated into their devices, will require more licensing agreements and rights/royalty fees. Not to mention the fact that if they implement DRM it will have an impact on volumes of data needing to be written to drives, lessening demand for their products.