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New SATA Cables?

C

Carlosinfl

Loves the juice
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
6,633
So we just ordered 150 SATA drives from Western Digital and everything was fine until I saw the new SATA data cable. Has anyone seen these yet?

Here is a LINK

Now does this mean that the drive is able to pull power off the motherboard or do I still need to just apply the traditional molext connector? I don't understand why the block or use the SATA power slot w/ the data cable.

Anyone?
 
from what I understand it's a more secuer way of attaching the cable to the drive...and you still need the molex power
 
This isn't 'new'. WD has been shipping this retarded cable in their retail kits since their first SATA drives shipped. I hate it and stuck it in a drawer somewhere opting to use my own SATA data cable and SATA power cable.

The reason they ship this cable is to prevent people from plugging in a SATA power connector AND a 4-pin molex at the same time. They figure this way the dumb people among us won't make that mistake.


So you can either use their included SATA cable with the fat adaptor on the end forcing you to use a standard 4-pin molex power connector. Or you can ditch the included cable and use a standard SATA cable instead which gives you the ability to use a SATA power connector if your PSU provides one.
 
What's the other end of that thing look like? You'd need some sort of backplane or special controller to have power connectors actually lined up along the data ports if the other end looks like that. If they do still intend for the molex connector to be used i'm not sure why they'd even bother with the SATA power connector.

And unless those to edge pieces fit pretty snuggly i'm not sure how much that would actually help things. They probably should have made the SATA connectors more of a PCI slot style plug in connection than what they did. It's just asking to be broken off but that's also how they make their money.
 
It's a 'secureconnect' cable, designed not to snap off the drive's sata connector and/or break/come unplugged as easily as regular cables do. AFAIK they only fit on WD drives, which have extra notches on the drive to keep them in place better.
 
IanG said:
It's a 'secureconnect' cable, designed not to snap off the drive's sata connector and/or break/come unplugged as easily as regular cables do. AFAIK they only fit on WD drives, which have extra notches on the drive to keep them in place better.
Click to expand...
yeah, that is exactly what they are, though it is beyond me how clumsy one has to be in order to snap off a SATA connector.
 
Anarchist4000 said:
What's the other end of that thing look like? You'd need some sort of backplane or special controller to have power connectors actually lined up along the data ports if the other end looks like that. If they do still intend for the molex connector to be used i'm not sure why they'd even bother with the SATA power connector.

And unless those to edge pieces fit pretty snuggly i'm not sure how much that would actually help things. They probably should have made the SATA connectors more of a PCI slot style plug in connection than what they did. It's just asking to be broken off but that's also how they make their money.
Click to expand...

The other end is a standard SATA connector.

And it actually fits pretty snugly although I still prefer a normal SATA cable w/ SATA power cable (which is why mine stays in my junk drawer).

I've never heard of anyone breaking off an SATA connector before. SATA plugs will pop out with just the right amount of pull, and I'm pretty sure they are designed that way. You'de have to pull up/down or at a pure 90 degree angle to break the connector off an SATA drive. :eek:

I'm sure there are waterheads that have managed to break it though...
 
I broke a head on my SATA mobo connector......just ebnt the wrong way futzing with the other end...it happens I'm sure
 
drizzt81 said:
yeah, that is exactly what they are, though it is beyond me how clumsy one has to be in order to snap off a SATA connector.
Click to expand...



It's very easy to do that.
 
I've had sata cable connectors break on me with very little sideways force; the plastic was extremely brittle. Just for the sake of it I intentionally tried breaking the other end and compared it to a store bought sata cable to be sure it wouldn't happen again and sure enough the store bought one was much more durable. I'm not sure about breaking the cable from the harddrive end but trying to get at the sata ports when all 8 are used (two groups of 4 on the nforce 4 motherboards) and squeezed in between the graphics card is a bit tricky with a messy case. :p
 
ok, let me apologize for my inconsiderate post. I had plugged in/ out a bunch of SATA drives, have hotplugged them and even swapped connectors on board a bunch of times and never broke off a connector. Even quite a bit of force on my HDD's (Two WDs and a Maxtor) connectors did not do anything. For that reason I am suprised that it seems to be a 'common' issue.
 
while that thing is fugly as hell.. one of my techs snapped the sata connector off the back of a maxtor drive. i was sitting nearby talking to him when it happened.. he didnt put a lot of pressure on it or anything, it just snapped. maxtor wouldnt take it back so i epoxy'd a cable to the drive and now i got me a cost price drive ^_^
 
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