Pay more for good sata cables

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:54 am

I have no experience with sata drives yet but I seem to remember reading some posts on how the cables that come with your motherboard are kind of junk and prone to problems. Is it worth it to try and buy the sata cable separately? I see there are tons of options for funky colors (which doesn't mean much to me) but there are also a few cables out there that appear to just promote better quality. I don't mind spending twice the regular price for a cable, provided it does make a difference.

ultraboy · Post by **ultraboy** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:08 am

I think the main problem with sata cable is the connector. It's quite easy to get loose, or being knocked off without you knowing. I've been looking at a few after market sata cables (those shiny, colurful ones

), and it doesn't look like it's going to do a better job i.e. providing firm connection. So it's a hit or miss, I guess.

There's a new generation of sata cable with some kind of latch, but I havn't yet found it in this far-away-land. Anyway it'll work only if your MB use the new sata socket too.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:55 am

I use regular sata cables bought at svc sale for around $1-2 and never had problems with them. Of course the connector itself is shaky, but I've never had any instances of data corruption.

HiFi · Post by **HiFi** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:05 pm

the Western Digital drive i bought has a feature called "Secure Connect" so that the cable cannot come loose. I spent a few bucks more and got the WD sata cable. here this is what Ultraboy is talking about http://www.wdc.com/en/products/accessor ... ?ProdID=74

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:09 pm

HiFi wrote:the Western Digital drive i bought has a feature called "Secure Connect" so that the cable cannot come loose. I spent a few bucks more and got the WD sata cable. here this is what Ultraboy is talking about http://www.wdc.com/en/products/accessor ... ?ProdID=74

The WD SecureConnect cables only work on WD SATA drives. In addition, if you use SecureConnect cables, you must use the standard Molex 12V power connector from the PSU, and not a PSU SATA power connector (WD drives have 2 power input sockets).

Captain John · Post by **Captain John** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:06 pm

I work for one of the large OEMs, and, I've gotta tell ya, the SATA cables that we use are incredibly narrow/flimsy compared to the average which comes with a motherboard.

The WD SATA cables are an interesting idea. Only for the paranoid though. SATA cables don't come loose in normal use.

Yes, SATA 2 (or is it 2.5) cables technically are supposed to have a clip on the end of them. This only occurs on one side (the motherboard).

Don't worry about the cables, unless you have a PCChips or ECS (or insert other very crappy manufacturer) mainboard, it probably came with nice cabling (my intel cables are _really_ nice, as are ABIT cables).

if your drive starts to give you trouble, then question the cables. Otherwise, they are almost never a problem.

-John

HiFi · Post by **HiFi** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:16 pm

m0002a wrote: The WD SecureConnect cables only work on WD SATA drives. In addition, if you use SecureConnect cables, you must use the standard Molex 12V power connector from the PSU, and not a PSU SATA power connector (WD drives have 2 power input sockets).

is using the molex 12V not as good as the SATA power connector?

josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:25 pm

Captain John wrote:Don't worry about the cables, unless you have a PCChips or ECS (or insert other very crappy manufacturer) mainboard

I actually have ECS and PC-Chips motherboards and the cables connect and work just as well as my Asus cables.

I recently started using cables with 90-degree connectors on one end. They work well in the lower drive cage of my P180.

I did once have a SATA cable with locking connectors on both ends of the cable. It was very secure, I liked it a lot... Unfortunately the motherboard where I got that cable had to be RMAd...

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:27 pm

HiFi wrote:is using the molex 12V not as good as the SATA power connector?

12v is 12v. The Sata power cables are bit more elegent looking, but no difference in performance.

As I said previously, WD SATA drives have 2 power input sockets, and when you use SecureConnect cables, a plastic piece plugs into the SATA power input socket to hold the cable tighter to the drive. Therefore you must use the other Molex power input socket to power the drive.

mb2 · Post by **mb2** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:46 pm

one of the plastic bits on the side of the connector of my sata cable broke off*

..it still works fine, but i wasn't impressed with my first impressions of sata- i thought the cable would be most of the advantage!
..and they are very loose
*from trying to get the cable into an awkward place because of hdd placement.

what is the orange wire of a Sata connector?
why must they keep inventing endless new cables which all just still supply 12v and 5v?

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:13 pm

mb2 wrote:one of the plastic bits on the side of the connector of my sata cable broke off* :( ..it still works fine, but i wasn't impressed with my first impressions of sata- i thought the cable would be most of the advantage!
..and they are very loose
*from trying to get the cable into an awkward place because of hdd placement.

what is the orange wire of a Sata connector?
why must they keep inventing endless new cables which all just still supply 12v and 5v?

Are you talking about the SATA data cable or the power cable? The reason for the SATA data cable is to provide greater airflow in the case compared to flat (and wide) cables. Better airflow means better cooling and less fan noise required to keep the temps reasonable.

ultraboy · Post by **ultraboy** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:39 am

josephclemente wrote:...I recently started using cables with 90-degree connectors on one end. They work well in the lower drive cage of my P180....

Here's my not so successful story with sata cables.

I was using left angle sata cables on my 2 HDDs for almost a year, then one of the drive started acting up. Having to reformat that drive twice during following 3 months..I decided to RMA the drive. Same problem occurred again with replacement drive after about 2-3 months of use. Disk cleaning utilities started to report some bad sectors.

So I bought a bunch of normal sata cables (50 cents a piece)..tried them all..and keep only the ones that give a good fit when plugged in. That replacement drive just died last week

, luckily I backed it up just the day before. I'm now on the 2nd replacement.

Throughout this saga, the other sata drive just happily working with its cables without any problem. Any lesson learned on sata cable? - Not quite sure really, but I learned my lessons on backing up and buying Hdd with good warranty.

mb2 · Post by **mb2** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:34 pm

m0002a wrote:Are you talking about the SATA data cable or the power cable? The reason for the SATA data cable is to provide greater airflow in the case compared to flat (and wide) cables. Better airflow means better cooling and less fan noise required to keep the temps reasonable.

the power cable (does ur data cable supply 12v? lol). i was talking about why on earth we need so many different things; P4 12v, 4extra pins on PSU, PCIe connectors, sata power connectors.. all which essentially do the same job as a molex. making a smaller and easier to pull out version would be nice (ok so sata achieves this a little.. but still too big)

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:24 pm

mb2 wrote:the power cable (does ur data cable supply 12v? lol). i was talking about why on earth we need so many different things; P4 12v, 4extra pins on PSU, PCIe connectors, sata power connectors.. all which essentially do the same job as a molex. making a smaller and easier to pull out version would be nice (ok so sata achieves this a little.. but still too big)

In theory at least, the SATA power connectors are better than the clunky Molex type, primarily because they are smaller. In tight situations, the SATA power cables can fit where Molex cannot, and there are some 90 degree angle SATA power connectors. They don't help everyone, but it can make a difference in some situations.

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:56 pm

Seagate are bringing out SATA cables and HDD's with new connectors with extra latchess for connection security. The distributor said they are backward compatable with normal drives and normal SATA cables respectively.

Seagate
Learn about the serial connector enhancements
Seagate Serial ATA connectors add significant flexibility and reliability to SATA systems configuration. Now, several enhancements to the SATA connectors maintain their compatibility with motherboards, systems and ports, and add to their dependability and usability. Seagate Technology, Dell and Molex drove the new connector design.

#New, rugged design increases connector strength in even the most challenging environments.
#New connector latch increases the effectiveness of retention and give tactile feedback to the user.

Steerpike · Post by **Steerpike** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:05 pm

SATA cable quality is very important!

I cannot begin to tell you how much time I wasted troubleshooting a new computer setup a few years ago, ultimately traced to crappy SATA cables. I can't recall where I bought them now, but I recall they looked nice, and even came with 'caps' on them to protect the ends (whoopte-do!).

I was getting read / write errors on my drives at random. I swapped everything, returned drives as defective, and even bought new SATA controllers (PCI add-on cards) assuming my motherboard controllers were defective. Only after many weeks of pain and suffering did I swap cables, and all my problems went away. To prove the point, I put the cables back in service a month after, and the problems returned.

Maybe I just got a bad batch, but ... I now seek out the best available cables.

Since that experience, I have run into articles about this topic ... this one is on the negative side, but has some interesting tid-bits. It's also quite old, and refers to problems that are largely worked out by now (eg, many sata drives are pata drives with built-in convertors, rather than native sata) - but worth a glance anyway.

One of the things that site tells you is to not run your sata drives outside of a sealed case due to shielding issues. To me, one of the most attractive elemetns of SATA is that the thin, long cables allow you to put drives outside the case, like an external USB drive. I ended up buying very expensive shielded SATA cables to achieve this. I came here today to start my own sata-related thread on this very topic.

josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:36 pm

Steerpike wrote:Since that experience, I have run into articles about this topic ... this one is on the negative side, but has some interesting tid-bits.

Yikes, according to the bulleted text below the red warning on that site:

DO NOT tie wrap SATA cables together. DO NOT put sharp bends in SATA cables. DO NOT route SATA cables near PATA cables. Avoid placing SATA devices close to each other such that the SATA cable connectors are close to each other.

I have SATA cables tie wrapped together with sharp bends and I have been proud of my work organizing my cables...

Should I change my SATA cablegami? I remember reading the same warnings for PATA cables but never had any PATA cablegami issues...

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:46 pm

bah i say. ive taken PATA cables and straight up bent them over backwards and pressed them down with vice grips to get them as flat as possible. no problems whatsoever.

those are the murphy proof instructions for cable managment.

copper is copper, and all these wires are just that. as long as you dont break the integrity of the line, or break the integrity of the insulation around the lines, your fine. copper is a very permiable substance, long as your not bending it back n forth and back n forth to its extreams over n over, you wont have any issues.

Mandachuva · Post by **Mandachuva** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:56 pm

From what I know, the problem with twisting/bending over backwards ATA cables is caused not by the (mecanical) resistance of the materials used, but by data interference. Every other wire from an ATA cable is a ground wire, to minimize interference between otherwise adjacent data wires, and to improve RF/magnetic rejection. Bending them over should negate the protection provided by the multiple ground lines, when interfererence between the data wires (of the same ATA cable) is concerned...

But I also bend them over.

No problem whatsoever.