# How to find SATA supports 1.5 or 3.0 Gbps? Thinkpad T61p

## jeffk

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p, and I want to learn whether the primary SATA controller for the hard drive bay supports 3.0 GBps mode. The smartbay hard drive tray for the DVD slot is clearly marked as 1.5Gbps.

```
# lshw |grep SATA

description: SATA controller

product: 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller
```

The Intel ark link does not detail the SATA specification supported, only the number of ports:

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=29823

Thanks.

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## krinn

- There's not yet a controller made by intel that support sata2 (funny no? I might be wrong, but i think they will release one on next chipset release, until then, they won't made one)

Intel generation can be guess from numbers (more or less), latest is ICH10 and yours show a ICH8, so you can guess 2 generations old (and if it's not that, you won't be far)

So you don't have sata2, but no worry most (all?) sata2 drives have a jumper to keep compatibility

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## drescherjm

ICH9 and ICH10 support SATA2.

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## krinn

hmm, yes right, replace anything i said with sata3  :Smile: 

Sorry jeffk, my mind fly away sometimes.

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## Manko10

ICH8M(-E) is SATA 3.0Gbit/s (SATA-II).

By the way SATA 3.0Gbit/s hard drives also run well with SATA 1.5Gbit/s controllers out of the box, no need for jumpers.

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## jeffk

 *Manko10 wrote:*   

> ICH8M(-E) is SATA 3.0Gbit/s (SATA-II).

 

Awesome. I've seen indications that the removable drive bay is a SATA-PATA bridge, hence the 1.6GBps on that component.

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## chithanh

Often SATA 3 Gbit/s is disabled by the manufacturer to save power.

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