eSATA cable plug

[Man-wai Chang]

Are they all supposed to be factory-made, that you could not replace or
repair them?

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[Paul]

Are they all supposed to be factory-made, that you could not replace or
repair them?

If it has molded plastic on it, it would be pretty
hard to get it apart without damaging something.

Paul

 

[Man-wai Chang]

If it has molded plastic on it, it would be pretty

hard to get it apart without damaging something.

I have never seen SATA or eSATA plug in shops that sell components...

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[Paul]

I have never seen SATA or eSATA plug in shops that sell components...

SATA/ESATA carries extremely high frequency signals. The
testing for those cables, looks for tiny discontinuities.
The assembly method used, has to present as small a
discontinuity where the cable meets the connector, as
possible. If you had a connector with screw termination
on it, to join the wires, the overall cable wouldn't
pass this style of testing. (They have some interesting
adapters, on page 4.)

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-5587EN.pdf

If you look at page 296 of the PDF file in here, there is
a picture of the cross-section of the cable itself. It's
two differential pairs, inside a foil shield. The foil
shield should have continuity right up to the ground contacts
on the seven pin connector. It's pretty hard to make that
happen, with a connector you can install at home. You have
to peel back the foil, to get at the inner conductors, and
connect the two center conductors to their pins, as well
as connect the foil/drain wires to the grounds. And do it
in such a way, as to end up with an RF (radio frequency)
quality connector. The requirements don't lend themselves
to the use of screw terminals.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030213....org/collateral/zipdownloads/serialata10a.ZIP

Paul

 

[wilby]

Are they all supposed to be factory-made, that you could not replace or
repair them?

If you really must replace a connector like an e-sata, usb, or similar,
there is a method that can result in success if careful.

Rather than install a connector, find a surplus cable with the same
connector on it and cut the cable about a foot from the good connector.

Now carefully splice the good original cable to the short length of the
new cable.

I've done this many times and it usually works fine.

The positive: Easier to do than attaching a connector directly.

The negative: Easier to make a mistake when selecting which wires are
soldered together. Be careful. Ohm the cables and write down the needed
connections before cutting.

Wilby

 

[RayLopez99]

If you look at page 296 of the PDF file in here, there is
a picture of the cross-section of the cable itself. It's
two differential pairs, inside a foil shield. The foil
shield should have continuity right up to the ground contacts
on the seven pin connector. I.

Yeah differential signaling, which is used in everything from USB to
DSL modems to SATA connections, is very temperamental. Years ago, I
once took apart a XX-pin ribbon, the kind used on HDDs and Floppy
drives, and repaired it (one of the wires was broke) but I could not
do that with the hyper sensitive differential signaling connections
today I think.

RL

 

[Paul]

Yeah differential signaling, which is used in everything from USB to
DSL modems to SATA connections, is very temperamental. Years ago, I
once took apart a XX-pin ribbon, the kind used on HDDs and Floppy
drives, and repaired it (one of the wires was broke) but I could not
do that with the hyper sensitive differential signaling connections
today I think.

RL

They do some amazing things with SATA signals. Things I'd
never consider doing.

This SATA controller card, has more SATA connectors than the
chip has ports. They use "jumper plugs", to route the SATA
signals, to either the faceplate connectors, or to a pair of
internal connectors on the end of the card. (You can only
use four of the six connectors at any time. Page 4 shows the
jumper plug settings to enable the connector you want.)

http://www.vantecusa.com/system/application/media/data_file/ugt-st310r_manual.pdf

It's amazing to me, that low amplitude high speed signals, can
go through an uncontrolled impedance pin header, flow through the
jumper plug, without reflections blowing the signal integrity
to bits. It is hard to imagine that the discontinuities are
exactly the same, and the differential receiver is able to
remove the effects.

Paul

 

[Man-wai Chang]

It's amazing to me, that low amplitude high speed signals, can

go through an uncontrolled impedance pin header, flow through the
jumper plug, without reflections blowing the signal integrity
to bits. It is hard to imagine that the discontinuities are
exactly the same, and the differential receiver is able to
remove the effects.

Does this mean I should just forget about repairing a failing high-speed
data transfer cable?

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[Paul]

Does this mean I should just forget about repairing a failing high-speed
data transfer cable?

Well, it's your data

If I pinch, bend, or kink a SATA cable, I just replace it.
It's a disposable design.

ESATA probably costs a few more bucks. If you want your data
to be error free, then a new cable is your best alternative.
Unless you're skilled at controlled impedance connection making.

I've tried my hand at terminating coax cables with new connectors,
and never got very good at it. I had a few of them, fall apart.
And those are designed for hand assembly.

Paul

 

[RayLopez99]

It's amazing to me, that low amplitude high speed signals, can
go through an uncontrolled impedance pin header, flow through the
jumper plug, without reflections blowing the signal integrity
to bits. It is hard to imagine that the discontinuities are
exactly the same, and the differential receiver is able to
remove the effects.

I'm not an expert in this area, but it may be due to the nature of
differential signaling: both signals are out of phase with one
another except by a slight difference (the information) and thus
ground effects and stuff like impedance has less of an effect on the
overall signal. See the Google powerpoint presentation on
"differential signal basics", first one.

RL