Bit of a noob question; just moved over to a new machine which happens to be using SATA HDDs.  Now it has two sockets, presumably that means I can hook up two HDDs (only currently have one).  What if I want 4 or 6 (machine is a Media Centre)?  With the old ATA sockets/cables you could have 4 devices in total.  Do I need an expansion card?

Also, is there any compatibility issues between SATA-I and SATA-II.  A am presuming I am using SATA-I although am looking to purchase an additional drive which is SATA-II; should i need to be aware of anything?  compatibility?

My motherboard is here (although not sure if I can use SATA-II drives).

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=14&l3=0&model=1189&modelmenu=2

Cheers

Each SATA port takes 1 drive, but you can still fully use the IDE channels for another 4 drives. If you need any more you will need an expansion card.

Oh, and sata 1 and 2 are backwards compatable, so you can use a sata 1 drive in a sata 2 port and vice-versa.

Cheers Shakey!

Sorry, one last question.  What are the comparison speed of ATA vs SATA.  I am presuming SATA-II is quickest(er) than SATA-I/ATA?

Cheers

Theoretical max speeds:

P-ATA: 133MB/s
SATA I: 150MB/s
SATA II: 300MB/s

Though you never get anywhere near these maxes, you will see some speedup, especially since SATA implements extra features such as command queing.

Also the cables are nice and small and easy to run

ATA 133 and ATA 150.  Many people dont see the point in PATA v SATA1 unless they are performance junkies.  SATA 2 however gives a decent extra kick and makes it worthwhile.

Thing being a sata drive sits on its exclusive cable while an ATA drive can share it with another drive. Normally this makes no difference but with sata the bottleneck is always the drive while with ATA having a pair of drives it just might reach peak using two.

There are also interface cards to allow you to put in more sata drives if you need them.