eSATA cable recommendations?

[jhansman]

Seems the bulk of the eSATA cables out there are not very well made (inflexible, connectors too short, etc.). Can anyone recommend one that has held up for them over time and works consistently? I am about to fill a Vantec external enclosure with an old 250GB SATA drive and a good cable will be essential. TIA!

 

[de8212]

I got mine from monoprice.

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...rd=esata+cable&x=0&y=0

I think it was #3940. It has held up fine for ~4 months or so.

 

[corkyg]

I have two Vantec NexStar 3's with eSATA. I never paid any attention to the cables except to make sure they had real eSATA connectors.

On one of them, I had to replace the cable as it was giving me errors on an intermittant basis. I put on a different one and have had no problems since.

I have no clue as to who makes the cables - some are grey, some are black, and they come in different lengths. I find no markings on them. The good one I replaced with is black, and about 36-in.

I agree with you - they should be more flexible, i.e., softer.

 

[scleland2000]

If you would like a more flexible eSata cable, I found this one:
19" (0.5 Meter) Newer Technology Ultra-Flexible eSATA to eSATA connecting cable

It is 30AWG instead of 26AWG like most eSATA cables. It is way more flexible than my old cable; more flexible than a USB cable. Here is what my laptop looks like.

Unfortunately, custom-length eSata cables are very expensive, so a simple coil of the wire does the trick for my needs.

 

[corkyg]

That's good info on the soft cable. I just ordered this one from Newegg - only about a foot and a half long. Perfect for my laptop use. And only $6.79!

eSATA

 

[scleland2000]

Testing reliability can only come with time I suppose (or gradually physically stressing a cable until failure). But if I wanted to test the speed performance of different eSata cables, do you have a recommendation on a good (free) testing software?

 

[corkyg]

I would test empirically by use to do the same task if I were really concerned. I don't know of any software to do that.

Example, I use the eSATA link to do a certain operation. The stated time is a given number of minutes. Say, 12. I could then change cables and see if there is any difference in the time to do the task. I believe it would be negligible.

 

[scleland2000]

If the performance is negligible, then why do almost all eSATA cables use 26 AWG wire? If 30 AWG offers similar performance in a smaller, more flexible form, then why 26? Why not 28 AWG or something else? This got me thinking.

So I looked for the electrical transmission specs for eSATA and could not find them. I only found the SATA specs. eSATA doesn't change the wire (I don't think), it just increases the minimum required transmission voltage to ensure the signal can go the maximum 2 meters specified, and it requires the transmission reception to be sensitive to a lower voltage to again accomodate the 2 meter length.

So my 30 AWG cable is technically out-of-spec. Increasing the gauge (ie decreasing conductor cross-section) affects several things, but largely the impedence of the wire. The SATA standard states 95 to 105 Ohms impedence. I'll won't attempt the arithmetic, but the end result is that the 30 AWG wire will not work for the 2 meter maximum length specified by eSATA. If you figure the resisitance of a 30 AWG wire is roughly 2.5 times that of a 26 AWG wire, it seems reasonable to assume the maximum length of my 30 AWG would be about 0.8 meter which is still longer than my 0.5 meter cable.

Of course, there are other factors besides impedence to consider (eg attenuation, shielding, and capacitance). If the manufacturer appropriately sized everything, then this cable should perform to specs. But don't get a 30 AWG cable 2 meters long, because even if you can find one it won't perform well.

I'll try to run some tests on my 30AWG and 26AWG cables this weekend and verify if the difference is negligible. I'll post results.

 

[jhansman]

That Monoprice one looks good-flexible without being too flexible? Think I'll give it a try. I'll be interested to see if there is any difference in performance between the different gauge cables.

 

[de8212]

Originally posted by: jhansman
That Monoprice one looks good-flexible without being too flexible? Think I'll give it a try. I'll be interested to see if there is any difference in performance between the different gauge cables.

It's been fine for me. I have no way to compare different gauge cables but if there's a way I can test it's speed, I would be glad to run a few tests.

 

[MasterSwitch]

If the performance is negligible, then why do almost all eSATA cables use 26 AWG wire? If 30 AWG offers similar performance in a smaller, more flexible form, then why 26? Why not 28 AWG or something else? This got me thinking.

So I looked for the electrical transmission specs for eSATA and could not find them. I only found the SATA specs. eSATA doesn't change the wire (I don't think), it just increases the minimum required transmission voltage to ensure the signal can go the maximum 2 meters specified, and it requires the transmission reception to be sensitive to a lower voltage to again accomodate the 2 meter length.

So my 30 AWG cable is technically out-of-spec. Increasing the gauge (ie decreasing conductor cross-section) affects several things, but largely the impedence of the wire. The SATA standard states 95 to 105 Ohms impedence. I'll won't attempt the arithmetic, but the end result is that the 30 AWG wire will not work for the 2 meter maximum length specified by eSATA. If you figure the resisitance of a 30 AWG wire is roughly 2.5 times that of a 26 AWG wire, it seems reasonable to assume the maximum length of my 30 AWG would be about 0.8 meter which is still longer than my 0.5 meter cable.

Of course, there are other factors besides impedence to consider (eg attenuation, shielding, and capacitance). If the manufacturer appropriately sized everything, then this cable should perform to specs. But don't get a 30 AWG cable 2 meters long, because even if you can find one it won't perform well.

I'll try to run some tests on my 30AWG and 26AWG cables this weekend and verify if the difference is negligible. I'll post results.

Hi scleland2000

I know this is an old thread.
I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the (3 Meter) 3M esata cables that some sellers are offering ?

Clive

G5 dual 2.5Ghz, 8.0Gig Ram, Raid0 partitioned 1.2Tb HD, Tiger 10.4.11
uptime record 2200Hours (3 Months)
​

 

[tweakboy]

Go to www.frys.com and buy blue translusent with black light it glows, 4.99 each and its. 22 inches or 18 inches will do.

 

[0roo0roo]

i get mine free with every new motherboard upgrade

 

[tweakboy]

OH esata,, well my LaCie came with all cables,, usb firewire and eSATA, , the cable is very thick the eSATA cable ,, came with it ,, u can buy one for couple dollars but its diff then SATA cable,, its thicker.