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SATA cable brands

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SiDE   09-02-2009 at 04:54:14 AM

I didn't really care about the cables I use since I've been using the SATA cables that came with my Motherboard and retail drives. Now that I've started buying OEM drives, I need more cables. Does it matter what brand of SATA cables do you buy? Where can I get them for a good price, maybe bulk?

Am I right to say that cables classified under SATA are the SATA 1.5Gb/s cables and the ones under SATA II are SATA 3.0Gb/s cables?


Message edited by SiDE on 09-02-2009 at 04:54:34 AM
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Bronze Storage badge cjl   09-02-2009 at 06:03:43 AM

Any SATA cable should work fine with any SATA device, and as long as they're fairly short, any of them should work at either speed without any problems at all.

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SiDE   09-02-2009 at 10:50:21 AM

Brand might not matter but are you sure about any would work because I doubt it that they will create separate categories for each cable to not matter. Yes they might not have problems, but if you're trying to maximize performance? I'm still confuse if the cable categories corresponds to the speed.

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Bronze Storage badge cjl   09-02-2009 at 10:53:34 AM

Not at all. The exception to this is for long (>a few meters) cables, in which case some extra shielding really will help signal integrity and data rate. For short, internal cables though, there isn't any difference.

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SiDE   09-02-2009 at 10:58:43 AM

I get what you're saying. Was I right about the categories and the speed? Any suggestion on site I could get a good price?

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Bronze Storage badge cjl   09-02-2009 at 11:03:39 AM

I'd bet the categories are more based on that particular manufacturer's convention for cable naming. A decent quality cable marked as "SATA", even a fairly long one, should be able to handle 3Gb without any difficulty.

 

As for good prices? It doesn't get much better than this.
This one's not bad either

 

Or, if you need a right angle connector, there's this


Message edited by cjl on 09-02-2009 at 11:24:01 AM
------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
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 Reply to cjl
amnotanoobie   09-02-2009 at 11:07:06 AM

At the maximum length of 1~2m I doubt that shielding is really a big necessity, unless of course if you have a microwave beside your open case pc.

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SiDE   09-02-2009 at 11:09:10 AM

I just saw in most site categorizing them as SATA, SATA II, or even SATA III. I was just trying to put one to one as it might relate to the speed the cable pass.

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Bronze Storage badge cjl   09-02-2009 at 11:23:02 AM

amnotanoobie wrote :

At the maximum length of 1~2m I doubt that shielding is really a big necessity, unless of course if you have a microwave beside your open case pc.


Is that the max length? In that case, I completely agree (I didn't know what the specified max length was for SATA).

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wuzy   09-02-2009 at 11:49:42 AM

SiDE wrote :

I just saw in most site categorizing them as SATA, SATA II, or even SATA III. I was just trying to put one to one as it might relate to the speed the cable pass.



Firstly there's no such thing as "SATA II" or "SATA III", they do not exist. There is however "SATA 3Gbps" and "SATA 6Gbps".
SATA 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0Gbps all uses the same connector and cable.

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SiDE   09-02-2009 at 11:54:52 AM

I understand what you're saying, but for the most part, like it or not, cables are categorize as that and HDD are categorize as SATA 1.5Gb/s, SATA 3.0Gb/s, and SATA 6.0Gb/s. I'm just trying to get some understandings.

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jsc   09-02-2009 at 03:34:51 PM

Sigh.

"I understand what you're saying, ..."
No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't keep trying to find differences where none exist.

"HDD are categorize as SATA 1.5Gb/s, SATA 3.0Gb/s, and SATA 6.0Gb/s. " Cables really are not, regardless of how they are labeled.

cjl is right: "Any SATA cable should work fine with any SATA device, and as long as they're fairly short, any of them should work at either speed without any problems at all."

At this point, you have three choices:
1. Stop worrying about it.
2. Match the advertised cable designation to the drive you have.
3. Always buy cables designated as "SATA II" (backwards compatibility).

Message quoted 1 times
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wuzy   09-05-2009 at 01:58:33 PM

jsc wrote :

Sigh.

"I understand what you're saying, ..."
No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't keep trying to find differences where none exist.

"HDD are categorize as SATA 1.5Gb/s, SATA 3.0Gb/s, and SATA 6.0Gb/s. " Cables really are not, regardless of how they are labeled.

cjl is right: "Any SATA cable should work fine with any SATA device, and as long as they're fairly short, any of them should work at either speed without any problems at all."

At this point, you have three choices:
1. Stop worrying about it.
2. Match the advertised cable designation to the drive you have.
3. Always buy cables designated as "SATA II" (backwards compatibility).



The governing group SATA-IO has made only one SATA cable specification. All SATA cables regardless of what they're branded as are made to that specification only and was made to be forward compatible with higher SATA speeds.
Things like right-angle, metal clip... etc. on the connector were made optional.

------------------------------ GTL Ref Tweaking Guide - PM for detail
Brand is for the weak-minded, only product matters.
Resilient to marketing.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3850950213_aea6bbbcfe_o.jpg
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