Hard Drive question

[mommaopps]

What is the difference, if any, between a "2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s" and a "2TB Serial ATA 3" ?

[patio]

Nothing...
SATA is an abbreviation of Serial ATA...
If you want to be specific post both model #'s of the drives in question as there are likely differences...

[Salmon Trout]

What is the difference, if any, between a "2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s" and a "2TB Serial ATA 3" ?

The first gives four pieces of information about a drive:

(1) the capacity (2 Terabytes)
(2) the rotation rate of the platters (7200 revolutions per minute)
(3) the interface type (Serial ATA)
(4) the native transfer rate (3 gigabits per second theoretical maximum) (SATA revision 2)

The second gives three pieces of information about another drive:

(1) the data capacity,
(2) the interface type
(3) the SATA revision (3).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

[soybean]

Since the second drive specs did not state 7200 rpm, it's most likely a 5400 rpm drive.  That may seem to indicate that the 1st drive is the better performing one.  However, I suspect the 2nd drive is actually the better performing drive due it being SATA revision (3), which is a faster drive technology than SATA revision (2).  But, this raises the question of whether the motherboard supports SATA revision (3).  If it does not, then the SATA revision (3) drive would perform at the speed of a SATA revision (2) drive running at 5400 rpm.  I believe you should determine what your motherboard supports before making a decision on the hard drive. 

Here's a reference that might be helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#SATA_revision_2.0_-_3_Gbit.2Fs_-_300_MB.2Fs

[BC_Programmer]

However, I suspect the 2nd drive is actually the better performing drive due it being SATA revision (3), which is a faster drive technology than SATA revision (2). 

SATA II speed is 3gbps. SATA III is 6 gbps.

few 7200RPM drives can sustain around 100 MB/s, or 800mbps, so that is well within SATA II speed; 5400 RPM drives are generally even slower than that.