Upgrading to faster HD

Hello,
I have been thinking of getting faster HD for sometime now but the problem is that I am unsure what really is faster and how much.
This This is my current drive and it would probably help already if some one could tell what HD would be faster than it and what is the key thing when considering the speed? I've noticed that many drives have same RPM speeds.

Thanks.

Jari.

 

i think you would be best to upgrade to SATA (Serial ATA) or SATA 2 (even faster)

your current data transfer rate is 100Mb/s whereas SATA 1 transfer rate is 150Mb/s (i think) and SATA 2 is 300Mb/s (i think)

hope that helps

Edit: BTW: to use SATA 1 and / of 2 you need an add in interface card

 

The difference between ata100 and ata133 is slim! So you probably wont notice much of a difference with sata. Id go for a sata2 upgrade. Its got a substantial difference in its max speed.

 

Thank you for the info.
What are these interface cards called exactly? Does it relate to PCMI or what was it?

 

I think there just called SATA2 PCI Controller cards.

 

So I should buy something like this.

 

well that is a SATA 2 harddrive (HDD)

to use a SATA 2 HDD, you will need a SATA interface card (usually a PCI card plugged into the inside of your system)

this is a SATA 2 interface card

Edit: BTW wher are you (country) then i can post something from where you are

 

Thanks, I'm in Finland, europe.

Is it possible that mother board has a controlled like this integrated?

 

It is possible your motherboard has sata.
What pc or motherboard do you have?

 

I have HP pavilion but I don't know how to find out what motherboard it has in other way than opening the PC?

 

Which model of HP pavilion is that?

 

It's a609.fi but they dont seem to keep the information available for it any longer in HPs site...

 

Ah found it: HP and Compaq Desktop PCs -  Motherboard Specifications, A7V8X-LA (Kelut) 

 

if u look at ur mobo drawing u will find that it supports SATA2...so u dont need to buy any PCI card for it.... Just go and buy a SATA2 hdd and look if it comes with SATA cables otherwise u need to buy that as well...

 

Try PCWizard. This will tell you the motherboard you have. It probably best to make sure you are looking at the correct motherboard specifications before you shell out cash for a SATA2 hdd.

PC Wizard

 

Thanks for all the great replies, I think I just need to find the best HD now.

Barracuda 7200.10 would be the best for me because I only need 80gb and it has 16mb buffer but it appears that they are only selling the older model (7200.9) here in finland that has only 8mb buffer. Oh well, it's still 6mb more than what is in my current HD.

 

yeah seagate are about the most reliable drives, however i've heard some good things about samsung and WD, although with seagate taking over maxtor - hopefully maxtor drives will be better - although maxtor were very good at repairing / replacing faulty drives, but more often than not, the data is more valuable than the HDD