I was wondering if anyone has any experience buying the cheaper SATA III cables vs the more pricely ones. You can find them anywhere from a under a $1 to over $10. I read a few sites that says there is no real difference in the cables. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts?
SATA III Cables
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CountMike
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It's a bit of a gimmick sellers use to sell more expensive cables but there's some truth to it. Because of higher speeds of SATA3 (600) and SSDs, a better quality cables should be used. I prefer good and flexible ones with metal hooks on ends and one end at 90 degrees. Oh,yes, a different color for each disk as I swap them a lot. Most of cables that come with MBs are atrocious, stiff and plain. A lot of data is being lost due to lousy cables.
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Once again NO. Sorry to be rude but please get this clear in your mind.
A Sata cable is a Sata cable. There is no spec for a sata2 or sata3 cable; only a spec for sata cables. They are all the same. As i said, if they dont work then they didn't meet spec to begin with.
Someone even did an article on it once (danged if I can find it now) where they daisy changed something like 6 cables across a room and the sata3 drive still worked
[edit: FOUND IT ]
A Sata cable is a Sata cable. There is no spec for a sata2 or sata3 cable; only a spec for sata cables. They are all the same. As i said, if they dont work then they didn't meet spec to begin with.
Someone even did an article on it once (danged if I can find it now) where they daisy changed something like 6 cables across a room and the sata3 drive still worked
[edit: FOUND IT ]
Dark Lord of Tech
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CountMike
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It may not matter if they are labeled as SATA2 or 3 but there's definitely difference in quality of cables between different makes and it does pay to get better ones. I have seen some actually brake after couple of years of use or after clumsy installation. Many have fallen off or partially disconnect because of them being too stiff or without hooks at ends, resulting in data loss and apparent SMART score degradation. Seen them with contacts oxidated and loosing contact while other ones made of better material served for years.
Dark Lord of Tech
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CountMike
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I have seen many fail. First thing when SMART indicates transfer problems I reseat or change cables and it most of the time helps. It can cause SW bad sectors which get relocated later on and are permanently lost. When that quota is reached, bad sectors can stay in main tracks and result in data loss. Low level formating can save some of them but will never disappear from SMART giving indication of failing drive while it's still quite usable.
Dark Lord of Tech
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I guess I've been lucky then , I'm cheap when it comes to cables , the only cheap one that failed on me was a DVI.
CountMike
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You may be not coming in contact with so many computers than. I have been doing this for me and professionally/half professionally since late '70s, computers, machines and robots. I'm retired now but still have nightmares about broken wires and problems with them. Imagine a large cabinet, full of relays and miles of wires all over the place, one wire or contact goes bad and whole production line stops, bosses run around like chickens without heads, calling me to come to factory in the middle of night and me half asleep chasing broken wire in all that mess.
Eoraptor
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the only thing about an SATA cable is whether it is a first generation cable or not. First gen (SATA-I) cables did not have locking clips on them and could wiggle free over time. All subsequent cables manufactured to the 3gbps or 6gbps or esata spec all have a slightly different but backwards compatible design. Any cable you buy new is fine.
Maximum PC did a pretty extensive set of tests which prove this. Unless you're basically treating your sata cables as ethernet cables and running them dozens of feet long, it doesn't matter if you use ibuypower out of shanghai, or a fifty dollar Monster brand cable. http://www.maximumpc.com/is-your-sata-cable-slowing-down-your-data-transfers-max-pc-investigates/
Maximum PC did a pretty extensive set of tests which prove this. Unless you're basically treating your sata cables as ethernet cables and running them dozens of feet long, it doesn't matter if you use ibuypower out of shanghai, or a fifty dollar Monster brand cable. http://www.maximumpc.com/is-your-sata-cable-slowing-down-your-data-transfers-max-pc-investigates/
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