Hard drive Jumper Question

[spinbot]

I just got a second hard drive for my PC ( Both are segate Barracuda 7000.10 SATA2 3GB/S200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ 320GB drives ).

There is a jumper on the drive, which if left in place, set it to "Limit to 1.5 Gb/s Operation", however if removed sets it to "3 Gb/s Operation".

I would assume removing the jumper if the better of the two options, however there must be some reason why one would set it to 1.5 Gb/s versus 3.0 Gb/s .

Anyone who's more familiar with this hardware please let me know if my assumption is right or if more information is required to make the decision?

Thanks guys!

[TigerEROS]

Here's a direct link to Seagate's Support Page.

Look for your own model and it should give you the correct information.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/

[TigerEROS]

Actually did you a favour, the direct link to the:

Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320-GB Hard Drive Model ST3320620AS

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Barracuda_7200.10_SATA_320.3_GB&vgnextoid=2d1099f4fa74c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&vgnextchannel=a32a2f290c5fb010VgnVCM100000dd04090a RCRD&reqPage=Model

[woof]

I believe it's an issue of motherboard support - some don't support the higher speed SATA II.

[spinbot]

Seagate's site doesn't seem to address the jumper. I've searched the FAQ's and although they showed images of the jumper, they don't go into it in the text.

I have the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2314

Its says, in the MB description:
SATA 3Gb/s storage interface
The SATA specification doubles bus bandwidth from 1.5Gb/s to 3Gb/s. Native Command Queuing is a new specification that enables out-of-order execution of commands for efficient retrieval of data. Hot Plug support allows users to insert and remove hard disk drives without shutting off power to the system.

Edit - I connected it to the my yellowy colour connector on the MB. The bios picked it up correctly and I am just formating it now, so all seems well. Now I have just under a terabyte of storage. To thin, I use to have a 10MB hard drive and though it was a kick ass drive compared to the crappy storage on my Vic20 I had prior to it.

[zerocool24]

the jumper is for older m/bs which may have issues without it, it shouldnt affect any of the m/bs from the last probably year and a half or two. but socket a/478 should be left on.I have 3 of those drives, they are very fast. You're mobo should be fine with it

[ShadowVlican]

take the jumper off...... if it works then good..... if not, then shove the jumper back in...

what would ppl do without the internet....

[spinbot]

It wasn't so much a question of would it work or not, but what is the optimal way to set it.

Its seems to be working, hopefully at the proper speed. I just moved 250GB over off my USB drive on it and it took about 2 hours. Now I format my USB drive in NTFS ( I didn't realize it came as FAT32 -- damn Comstar ) :)