Why is WD not a "true" SATA HDD?

[ag3]

I don't understand... The WD has the SATA interface... So I just don't understand why it is not a "true" sata? I heard a couple ppl say that... Can someone clarify this for me plz? Thx in advance.

 

[rakesh_1024]

True SATA drives transfer data serially.
Only Seagate manufactures true SATA drives and the rest of them just use a parallel to serial converter to their PATA drives because of which u can use SATA interface but u will not get the speed of SATA(150mbps).

 

[ag3]

Western Digital really is 150MB/S and REAL SATA.

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=56

 

[Apokalipse]

Seagate isn't the only true SATA drive but is one of only a handful that have true SATA

true SATA means that the entire drive is built around SATA to transfer the whole 150MB/S
most drives are really ATA100/133 and are 'adapting' the connection to SATA, but this can lead to data corruption and will not transfer the full 150MB/S

the link you gave us shows WD drives with the SATA interface but are internally the same as PATA drives, and do not exceed 100MB/s

 

[ag3]

I cant find anything anywhere saying that the Western Digital Caviar (SATA) is not fully SATA. Everything I read lists that its speed is 150 mb/s... Whats up with that?

 

[Apokalipse]

the transfer speed is not 150MB/S even though it says it is, they advertise that because SATA is designed to transfer 150MB/S but for drives that just 'adapt' to SATA from PATA they will not reach it