SATA Connectors

[Jim Mc]

I'm in the process of building a machine with two SATA drives (Maxtor)
and an Intel S875WP1-E server motherboard. Never having used SATA
before, I was a little suprised by the somewhat loose feeling
connections and thought "Hmm, I wonder if over time these things might
work their way off". So, of course, I figured I'll just pull them
off again to get an idea of how loose they actually are (or are not).

I pulled one off of a drive. No problem. Didn't strike me as
exceptionally easy (which is good) but not particularly difficult
either. Then I tried the others. No go. I can't remove the other
three SATA connections - one on the remaining drive and the two at
the motherboard. ?!

Is there a trick to the connectors? Seems like they're not overly
tight, more like they've 'clicked' into place. But I'll be damned if
I can figure out how to unclick them. And I don't want to damage any
of the headers on the mobo or the drive.

One thing about the SATA cables supplied with the Intel motherboard is
that they all have 90 degreen connectors, unlike photos I've seen of
SATA cables with other motherboards.

 

[Tom]

the initial design was not very tight, so you may have an older connector
amongst the other ones.
There should be no trick to them and unless you see something to squeeze,
just pull hard.
Do NOT HOT plug/unplug, however, as this feature is only for drives and
connectors mounted on DIN rails.

 

[ARP]

Be very careful. I have broken the flimsy brittle connector plugs on both
ends of the SATA cable at various times. The cables are very stiff and, if
not held at the correct angle, the thin, brittle little outer cover of the
connector plug falls to bits!