sata cables...partially bad?

[silicon]

Is it possible for a sata cable to partially bad? It still works lets say but can the data rate be compromised?

 

[ArisVer]

If a wire is broken then it may work only sometimes. Your disk will likely appear and disappear randomly, when it makes contact.

 

[denis280]

Is it possible for a sata cable to partially bad? It still works lets say but can the data rate be compromised?

Right on.if the sata cable is damage it will make your hdd or ssd go nuts,but will not affect your file

 

[Charlie98]

...I've had it happen to me...

 

[DigDog]

first generation sata cables performed badly if they were bent. my guess is you got one of those. you should be able to get a new cable for a couple bucks delivered.

 

[inachu]

When I see prebuilt computers at mom and pop pc stores and I open the case and I see the sata wires bent and tied by those plastic tie straps then I do not buy them ever. Sata wires are never to be bend like that and when they are then the life of the wire is cut more than 75%. If you must severely bend the wire then make sure you only do it once and never again.

If you must do thing that it needs many bends then you should custome make your own cables:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1K8sul0c_4

 

[silicon]

first generation sata cables performed badly if they were bent. my guess is you got one of those. you should be able to get a new cable for a couple bucks delivered.

can you suggest a brand in particular that is good?

 

[DigDog]

no dude, *any* modern sata cable will do fine.

 

[pcgeek11]

first generation sata cables performed badly if they were bent. my guess is you got one of those. you should be able to get a new cable for a couple bucks delivered.

I have bent the crap out of all my SATA Cables and never noticed any difference. Like 180 degree bends.

Sounds like a wives tale...

Like the crimp in the copper slows the bits down?

 

[dbcooper1]

Is this an extraordinarily long SATA cable? I remember some that were long enough that signal degradation was a problem and behaved this way.

 

[inachu]

I have bent the crap out of all my SATA Cables and never noticed any difference. Like 180 degree bends.

Sounds like a wives tale...

Like the crimp in the copper slows the bits down?

It depends on the quality.

Just like CAT5 or CAT 6 some use stranded cable which is more flexible and the other is not.

Very bad idea to bend solid cable more than once. Solid cable is more suited for cable drops between the wall.
But I have seen some use solid cable to run to their pc nic which I think is pretty stupid.

I come across SATA wire being thrown away every day. I'll take a few and cut the ends off and will show the same
difference here in this thread.


The fact is the more you bend ANY wires then they will become brittle over time and so less life out of them.

Not just bending wires but also keeping constant stress on wires is just as bad.

The idea here is that stranded wires if they break will then use the left over wires in the strand not broken thus the reason why it will still work after several bends.

 

[inachu]

Is this an extraordinarily long SATA cable? I remember some that were long enough that signal degradation was a problem and behaved this way.

I've seen some pretty long sata cables before. I just googled it and found this:

39.37 inches
Though the Serial ATA specification calls out supporting cable lengths up to 1 meter or 39.37 inches, PCB traces from the cable connection to the host and drive controllers ASIC, adds length to the bus. Example: SATA drive installed with a 40 inch cable.

 

[DigDog]

I have bent the crap out of all my SATA Cables and never noticed any difference. Like 180 degree bends.

Sounds like a wives tale...

Like the crimp in the copper slows the bits down?

honestly? i do not know. i have not experienced any problems, besides my WD sata HDDs being slower than expected, but since i didnt have a control group, i wouldn't know.

but i remember this "dont bend sata cables" being a thing 3+ years ago. often on this 'ere forum as well.

since OP came out saying "could my sata cable be bad", i think my reply was just right. Also, a new sata cable is cheap enough that it's worth a try.

 

[pcgeek11]

I understand that you cannot keep bending wires over and over ( Electrician / Electronics Tech ). How often are you opening your case to bend your SATA Cables. I always use new cables when I build or replace a hard drive.