Friday, 21 January 2011
High Definition - sata cables, sata
I took to heart the previous reviews, cautioning that one of the connectors was 90 degrees and pointing upwards. Exactly what I needed for my Dell. The cable I got had straight connectors on both ends! With a very sharp kink on the cable the cover closed with a push and the drive runs. However, I will not be surprised if the cable fails. My guess is a wrong cable was mailed. The cable is called on the shipping slip SATA18RA1 (RA=right angle?). The bag itself has only single marking (0.5 m = ca. 18 inches as advertised). There is no good way was the person pulling the order to know if it is an angled connector or not except to know the merchandise an look. I will see if I can return it, but at the price of the cable and cost of shipping and hassle, this seems hardly worth it. Even this review is costing me more time than is the cost of the cable. Still, I use other people's reviews, so I thought I would return the favor. StarTech 18in SATA to Right Angle SATA Serial ATA Cable (SATA18RA1)
When buying this cable, note that one end has a 90 degree angled plug. This can be either an advantage or problem depending on the available space in your machine. In my case it made connecting two adjacent cables somewhat challenging.
As the title suggests. However, be mindful of where you're using the cable in your computer. The right angle end of the SATA cable is built in a way where the cable will be directed downwards when inserted properly. So theoretically, if you're inserting the right angle end of the cable into a hard drive that's placed in the bottom of your computer and faces the computer cover (such as the Dell XPS 420), then the cable will need to loop upwards towards the other SATA insert, which will create tension to the wiring when placing the cover back in place. That's not the manufacturer's fault, of course, but again, be careful.
The system did not recognize the drive with this cable. I had to borrow the DVD cable to get the drive recognized. Also, the right angle connector in the cable was backwards for the WD drive due to the drive's position in the bay. I wish there was a warning about this somewhere.
Required when you add a "bare bones" internal SATA disc drive. I believe most PCs lack a data plug for a second drive. My PC had an extra power plug so I didn't need a separate power cable. Worked with no problems.
I bought two of these along with 2x Samsung Internal Half Height DVD-W Supermulti SATA 22X Lightscribe. They are perfect in size to reach from any drive to the motherboard. Everything works fine and fast. The way it should be. If you buy a burner you'll need these since very few come with any cables at all.
I was fully aware of the 90 degree plug on one end and actually ordered it for that reason. I wanted to plug it into my DVD drive at the top of my case so a 90 degree plug sounded like a great idea. The issue is, the 90 degree plug is upside down. It is designed to go from the bottom of the case up, not the top of the case down. It still worked, I just had to essentially put it in upside down, but at 18 inches it was plenty long enough anyway.
Just something you should keep in mind when ordering. Otherwise it is a great cable and either way it's worth the $1-$2 you pay for it.
I never got to install the connector into my PC. Since it was to be used to connect a second hard disk drive, space was going to be a factor. However, I ran into one unexpected difficulty. One end of the connector is at a right angle to the rest of the wire. It can only be installed one way into the hard drive. This would have the right angle positioning the cable up, and into the cover panel; that is I could not put the cover back if I installed the cable's right angle side into the hard drive. If I tried to install the right angle side on the motherboard connector, it was blocked by one of the small electronic parts on the motherboard, and would not connect. I purchased a cable with straight connectors on both ends and returned this connector to Amazon for a full refund. The new cable installed easily and works fine. I expect the original cable would have worked if it would have fit; the difficulty was due to my mistake, or inexperience, in not being aware of the potential problem in the first place. - Sata - Cable - Sata Cables - Hard Drive'
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