SATA Physical Interface Durability?

[Wardrop]

I'm trying to find out how many plug/unplug cycles something like an SSD could take before the physical SATA interface becomes unreliable. Would we be talking 100's or 1000's?

 

[MicahC]

The number 50 sticks out in my mind, but I have a book that might have the actual number they are rated for, PM me if you want me to check. but since it is an internal connection, they don't (generally) need to be unplugged, so durability isn't a big deal.

 

[groberts101]

Micah may actually be right with the above.. but I can tell you that my boards sata ports and various SSD's and HDD's have been pushed WELL into the hundreds by now.

If I had to guess.. it may take many thousands of rubs before they would wear significantly enough to reduce the available material to make sufficient contact.

Ever see the old Nintendo game systems wear out their pins? Blow the dust off.. swab a tad bit of alcohol to clean them with a q-tip.. and in the worst cases get the file out to clean heavily worn or corroded terminals and watch that 20 year old game fire right up. Same same.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

The original SATA spec was 50, but I'm pretty sure actual devices use connectors rated well above that.

 

[GAO]

I believe it may still be only 50 (500 for backplane application). eSATA has 5000 and USB is either 1500 or 5000 (durable).