I don't think that it's a good idea.  This type of setup (PCI card) cannot
compete well with today's IDE drives with 8MB buffers.  Tom's Hardware
Guide, www.tomshardware.com, had some reviews on card/drive combinations
earlier this year.  I would check them out before making a final decision.

My wife and I use  WD Raptors that are SATA, and I really like them. But we
use XP and mb's that support SATA on-board.  (The Raptors were quite
expensive for their size.)  Using a pair in RAID configuration, I could tell
a big difference in the way Morrowind played when it had to access the
drives.

Dean Kukral

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 9:56 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Upgrading hard drive


> Hi,
>
> I am contmeplating upgrading my hard drive.  I am close to running out of
space, but also am worried my current drive is failing as I seem to be
having lots of "lost cluster" problems.
>
> My current system has a 13.5GB Ultra ATA HD.  I am running Windows 98SE on
a Pentium III processor.
>
> What has caught my eye is the introduction of SATA that does not seem to
be much more costly than a larger replacement Ultra ATA drive.  Some
manufactures offer combo cards that have USB and Fire Wire access as well.
I have looked at various SATA PCI cards but am unclear if I can install
this, hook up my new drive, and have access to that drive to format and
reload the operating system, etc.
>
> Is this a viable strategy?
>
> Chris

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