Is SATA2 backwards compatable with SATA1?

[smp]

I have an abit NF7s and it has SATA, but not SATA2 .. can I buy a SATA2 drive, will it work?

Thanks

 

[corkyg]

Yes, but it will run at SATA I speed.

 

[smp]

Thought so, thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Juno]

i have two sata2 hard drives running at sata1 speeds.

 

[jleves]

Not only will it work, but you are unlikely to see a difference. Most devices can't really push data out faster than about 35MB or 40MB/sec. A 1.5gb/sec bus is about 150MB/sec. You really need a bunch of devices on a bus to get close to that. Considering the SATA bus only has one device on it, I'm not sure why they ever bothered with SATAII. All the being said, I still buy SATA II . I've never seen performance tests of actual throughput of a SATA1 vs a SATAII device, but I bet there is almost no difference in actual throughput.

 

[IEC]

The real advantage of SATA II is that it supports NCQ, which gives a speed advantage in some situations.