M
Metspitzer
I know there are SATA2 and SATA3 SSD drives. Are the cables
different?
different?
J
Jan Alter
Metspitzer said:
The cable ends are all the same for connection. However, I have seen SATA
cables listed to carry data at higher and lower speeds. Check Newegg.com out
to compare one variety of cable to another.
As for SATA2 and SATA3 SSD drives they each have a distinct through put
speed before getting to the cable itself.
F
Flasherly
Depends on the designer...
Designers use a number of techniques to reduce the undesirable effects
of [noise in -fl] such unintentional coupling. One such technique used
in SATA links is differential signaling. This is an enhancement over
PATA, which uses single-ended signaling. The use of fully shielded
twin-ax conductors, with multiple ground connections, for each
differential pair improves isolation between the channels and reduces
the chances of lost data in difficult electrical environments.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...3-TwinAxCable.jpg/220px-SATA3-TwinAxCable.jpg
L
Loren Pechtel
Backwards compatible, not necessarily forward-compatible. An
el-cheapo SATA2 might not be good enough to handle SATA3. The plugs
are the same, though.
M
Metspitzer
I have red, gray, black and blue SATA cables? How would you know?
M
Metspitzer
I see that some of them are marked. The oldest cables I have are red.
They are marked 26AWG. I am guessing they are SATA 2. The newest
cables I have are blue. They are also marked 26AWG, but they are also
marked 6Gbps/3Gbs.
It is a shame. The red cable is the one I really wanted to use
because it is 24 inches long. I already know, longer is not better
when you are talking about computer cables.
C
Charlie Hoffpauir
I usually buy all my cables of any type from Monoprice, so I chaecked
their web site for SATA cables, and it seems they have SATA cables
rated or 6 Gbps in red, blue and black (plus other colors) in various
lengths, up to 36 inches. Check out:
C
Charlie Hoffpauir
Oops, sent that by mistake before finishing. URL is
http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=sata+cables
L
Loren Pechtel
26AWG is the wire size. That says very little about how fast they can
work. The 6gbs/3gbs marking is a clear indication that that's a SATA3
cable.
T
TVeblen
The specification for the CABLE in SATA2 and SATA3 are the same.
The one new difference is positive locking clamps on the connectors of
new cables.
The issue of good quality vs poor quality cable continues from SATA2.
While the wires are all 26g, the quality of the copper and the amount of
shielding are different from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Either Maximum PC or Tom's Hardware did a test of SATA cables about a
year back to see if there was any difference in performance between
regular SATA cables and "SATA3" cables. They even jerry-rigged a 24 ft
long cable and tested that to. The result: unless you are splitting
hairs - not much.
T
TVeblen
I mis-remembered. It was 6 feet, not 24!
Here is the article:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fe..._down_your_data_transfers_max_pc_investigates
F
Flasherly
That tells me there's potentially HD/controller problems & issues to
misinterpreted for lack of a better cable. For instance, I'm not
especially happy with defragmentation routines from a HD running off a
plugin or aftermarket SATA controller. When troubleshooting it
they'll be a range of factors to look at, although I didn't think
cables conceivably could be one of them.
M
Metspitzer
Sadly, all this is mute for me. I bought a new hard drive with 6Gbps,
but after opening up the computer the controller is only SATA 2
M
Mike Tomlinson
Metspitzer said:Sadly, all this is mute for me. I bought a new hard drive with 6Gbps,
but after opening up the computer the controller is only SATA 2
It doesn't matter, because no hard drive is going to be able to max out
a SATA3/6Gbps interface.
T
Ting Hsu
Just to further the point, the typical 7200rpm hard drive does about
130MB/s, which is about 1Gbps, when going full out (a rare event).
Only SSDs break the 3Gbps barrier (SSDs tend to do 500MB/s or 4Gbps).
T
The Daring Dufas
So the SATA III drive will work in a computer with a SATA II controller
and doesn't care about the speed limit of the controller because it will
never be able to transfer data faster anyway? O_o
TDD
T
TVeblen
Pretty much. A spinning hard drive just does not reach half the speed of
SATA2 (3Gbps) on a good day. A 10,000 RPM drive might approach it.
T
The Daring Dufas
Cool, I want a 1tb or better drive for my Dell Precision 390 and it has
a SATA II controller. I've noticed SATA III drives tend to be less
expensive than SATA II drives so I could always move the drive to a
newer supercalifragilisticexpialidocious computer when I assemble one. ^_^
TDD
L
Loren Pechtel
There's nothing out there that can max a SATA3 yet but he said all he
has is a SATA2--and that will limit transfers with a good SSD.
L
Loren Pechtel
So long as it isn't a good SSD that's the case. You will lose
performance off a good SSD, though.