mSATA to SATA cable?

[ZippyDan]

I'm trying to make some extra room in a laptop of mine for a little project.

Toward that end, I decided to replace the SATA hard drive with a much smaller mSATA card like this http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-120GB-.../dp/B00BQ8RFAI

Unfortunately, the only thing I have been able to find to connect that little guy to a standard SATA connection is something like this http://www.amazon.com/Syba-mSATA-2-5.../dp/B007PPZ2I8

The problem with that adaptor is that it takes up so much of the space that I am trying to save! I'm not sure why that circuit board with a couple of capacitors and other electronics is even needed, as I've read that the mSATA and SATA connectors are electrically identical even if physically different.

What I really want is just a simple cable or adaptor that changes the physical connections and NOTHING ELSE.

Further confusing the issue is that there is a difference between microSATA and miniSATA but both are often incorrectly called mSATA (see here http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syl.../RBX0KM9DMNFEJ). I have found mSATA to SATA cables, but they are only microSATA to SATA from what I have found so far. Why is this so difficult?

 

[Hellhammer]

SATA is 5V while mSATA is 3.3V, so it requires a voltage regulator.

 

[Arkaign]

I'm trying to make some extra room in a laptop of mine for a little project.

Toward that end, I decided to replace the SATA hard drive with a much small mSATA card like this http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-120GB-.../dp/B00BQ8RFAI

Unfortunately, the only thing I have been able to find to connect that little guy to a standard SATA connection is something like this http://www.amazon.com/Syba-mSATA-2-5.../dp/B007PPZ2I8

The problem with that adaptor is that it takes up so much of the space that I am trying to save! I'm not sure why that circuit board with a couple of capacitors and other electronics is even needed, as I've read that the mSATA and SATA connectors are electrically identical even if physically different.What I really want is just a simple cable or adaptor that changes the physical connections and NOTHING ELSE.

Further confusing the issue is that there is a difference between microSATA and miniSATA but both are often incorrectly called mSATA (see here http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syl.../RBX0KM9DMNFEJ). I have found mSATA to SATA cables, but they are only microSATA to SATA from what I have found so far. Why is this so difficult?

Unfortunately that's not exactly true. The connectors ARE electrically identical, but the implementation of the data signals is different. That's why you see those little components on that PCB instead of just wire traces to the connector itself. I just went through this myself, we bought a bunch of mSATA SSDs for a batch of slim Toshiba notebooks, and some of them had mSATA ports, and some had regular 2.5" bays. So instead of shipping back the mSATA drives, we just bought the adapters. While exhaustively searching, I never came across a pure cable, only the PCB-based adapters.

I suppose it would be possible to make a cable with those necessary secondary components built in, but it's not likely to be commercially available and would need to be a custom job. The reasons are :

mSATA not common enough for much demand for those adapters
mSATA 99% used for pre-existing mSATA ports : no adapter needed
mSATA to 2.5" adapters are cheap and common

However : the best you will likely come up with is this :

http://www.microsatacables.com/mini-msata-to-sata-iii-6gb-p-adapter/

Positives : no cable to bend/get in way, Takes minimal space for an adapter, smallest package for everything necessary to do what you want.

That place is the go-to for obscure sata adapter stuff. Best of luck.

 

[ZippyDan]

SATA is 5V while mSATA is 3.3V, so it requires a voltage regulator.

Unfortunately that's not exactly true. The connectors ARE electrically identical, but the implementation of the data signals is different.

oooooo thanks for the knowledge peeples

However : the best you will likely come up with is this :

http://www.microsatacables.com/mini-msata-to-sata-iii-6gb-p-adapter/

Arkaign: I wonder if your linked device will support a 50mm mSATA SSD. The specs say it only supports 30mm. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't, except for I can't really tell if it will clear those electrical components at the end of the card. Do you have any experience with this?

I found this similar implementation for a few bucks cheaper and it definitely specifies support for 50mm cards and the placement of the electrical components in the picture supports this. http://www.daidaatdei.com/mz/conver...adapter-converter-to-25-35-sata-smallest.html

Though your link looks like a better quality device, if the pictures are telling the truth.