Routing of SATA Cables

[dennisc72]

Do the SATA cables, especially the data cables, need to be routed in specific ways, like to avoid contact with other cables, metal parts of the case, etc.? I have a Corsair SSD with Windows 7 64 bit and most of my programs and utilities and a 500 GB hard drive with a few bigger programs as well as pictures, music, and video files. I've found that sometimes the HDD will disappear! Also, the system often freezes completely, reminding me of what happened years ago when the only hard drive I had at the time failed. When I try to reboot, or sometimes boot fresh, it hangs when detecting the first drive, the SSD.

I did post a question about the SSD but I got very little response. I'm not sure if everyone finds me ugly, or I have bad breath, or my problem is unique. I was expecting to get response saying SSDs are unreliable but that doesn't seem to be the case. Corsair makes great RAM so I would assume their SSDs would also be reputable. Plus, if the drive was bad the startup would skip it, not hang on it.

I remember back when people had towers for their TV antennas attached to the sides of their houses and 300 ohm flat attenna wire the wire had to be spiralled down the tower with standoffs to avoid interference from the steel tower. Is it similar with SATA cables? My drives face sideways so their backs where the cables connect face the base that the motherboard is attached to. The drives themselves slide in and out on rails and so the cables need to go through the cage assembly the rails fit in or behind this cage near the base (CoolerMaster HAF case). I thought I had fixed the problem when I changed the SATA cable to the SSD but it started 2-3 days later. I tore the thing apart a few days ago and tried as best I could to route the cables to minimize contact and I haven't had any problems - YET!

 

[treefrog07]

The SATA data cables are insulated and their touching the metal frame, etc, should have no affect on their performance. Try using new cables on your drives, or at least different cables. If you have the problem persists, try using different SATA ports on the motherboard. If the problem remains, think about RMAing th board for replacement.

 

[dennisc72]

It has been OK for the last 3-4 days. I have thought of RMAing the motherboard but I hate to do that because I'm still not sure if it is the problem and I'm stuck either buying another or going back to using my old one, and my old CPU and RAM, for a few months until the issue is settled. I haven't seen anyone else with issues with this motherboard (Asus M4N75TD) but I guess mine could have been dropped or it was the first one made that day and the machines weren't adjusted quite right yet.