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SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 21st 17, 04:57 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
(PeteCresswell)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,933
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.
--
Pete Cresswell
Ads
  #2  
Old January 21st 17, 07:25 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


My thoughts based on doing similar things with industrial equipment:
(Assumes that you are in the USA and have normal split (2) phase
230v / 115v /115v power.)
Make sure that both machines are on the same power phase (A or B).
If there is a floating ground and one comp is on side A and the other on
side B, then 230v could be run through the machines.
If you are positive that both are on the same power side then you could
wire them together with a solid wire for anti-static purposes.
Use a shielded sata-3 data cable with locking connectors.
Keep the power and data cables separate.
Power cable can be whatever but shielded would be nice.
Keep away from electronic lights (florescent, CFL, LED, etc.).
I don't know anything about the micro sata that you posted.

  #3  
Old January 21st 17, 07:56 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


This is the smallest one I could find.

This appears to be a hot-swap box which you
could mount near your Technician Machine for
drive testing. I'm hoping the tray is the
same kind you're using, but I don't know that
for sure.

http://www.norcotek.com/product/ss-300/

Paul
  #4  
Old January 21st 17, 10:25 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
(PeteCresswell)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,933
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

Per Paul:
This is the smallest one I could find.

This appears to be a hot-swap box which you
could mount near your Technician Machine for
drive testing. I'm hoping the tray is the
same kind you're using, but I don't know that
for sure.

http://www.norcotek.com/product/ss-300/


Yeah... I saw that one too. I have a question in on the Amazon page to
confirm that it will fit in the two adjacent empty bays that I have
available..... and I am 99.9% sure it takes the same trays.
--
Pete Cresswell
  #5  
Old January 21st 17, 10:42 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

In message , Paul in Houston TX
writes:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


My thoughts based on doing similar things with industrial equipment:
(Assumes that you are in the USA and have normal split (2) phase
230v / 115v /115v power.)


[I'm learning about US power; here we have 3-phase as normal - about 415
volts, with 220-240 on the phases. But normal houses don't have the
3-phase, just one of them.]

Make sure that both machines are on the same power phase (A or B).
If there is a floating ground and one comp is on side A and the other on
side B, then 230v could be run through the machines.
If you are positive that both are on the same power side then you could
wire them together with a solid wire for anti-static purposes.


As _I_ read Pete Cresswell's question, he wasn't thinking of connecting
the two machines together - he was just wanting a way of hot-plugging
(and -unplugging) the drives without having to (un)do four screws each
time - i. e. having something like USB pluggability, but with SATA and
SATA-power. If I'm right, then _my_ answers would be more along the
lines of worrying about the connectors wearing out, maybe using a short
length of extension cable to reduce that, and so on.

Use a shielded sata-3 data cable with locking connectors.
Keep the power and data cables separate.
Power cable can be whatever but shielded would be nice.
Keep away from electronic lights (florescent, CFL, LED, etc.).
I don't know anything about the micro sata that you posted.

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual
rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand, quoted by Deb
Shinder 2012-3-30
  #6  
Old January 21st 17, 10:50 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

"PeteCresswell" on 2017/01/21 wrote:

I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


Why not get a bracket plate with a SATA connector on it (e.g.,
http://tinyurl.com/zwoexbk)? Works if you have an unused card slot on
the mobo and in the case. Of course, if you have an unused card slot
(not obstructed by other cards) then you could install an SATA card that
has an eSATA external connector. You likely have a PCI-e X1 slot that
has no use to you so you could stick a SATA card in it (e.g.,
http://tinyurl.com/gnbhuj3 or http://tinyurl.com/ja5cazd).

Since the drive on a sled has connectors for both data and power, just
where are you going to get power when hooking to the eSATA card blank or
daughtercard in your PC?



  #7  
Old January 21st 17, 11:13 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul in Houston TX writes:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


My thoughts based on doing similar things with industrial equipment:
(Assumes that you are in the USA and have normal split (2) phase
230v / 115v /115v power.)


[I'm learning about US power; here we have 3-phase as normal - about 415 volts, with
220-240 on the phases. But normal houses don't have the 3-phase, just one of them.]

Make sure that both machines are on the same power phase (A or B).
If there is a floating ground and one comp is on side A and the other on
side B, then 230v could be run through the machines.
If you are positive that both are on the same power side then you could
wire them together with a solid wire for anti-static purposes.


As _I_ read Pete Cresswell's question, he wasn't thinking of connecting the two machines
together - he was just wanting a way of hot-plugging (and -unplugging) the drives without
having to (un)do four screws each time - i. e. having something like USB pluggability, but
with SATA and SATA-power. If I'm right, then _my_ answers would be more along the lines of
worrying about the connectors wearing out, maybe using a short length of extension cable
to reduce that, and so on.


Just my thoughts from experience.
It's generally not a good idea to hook a/c powered devices together without first
determining if they are on the same phase. An easy way to test is to turn off the
breakers on one side of the panel. If both devices turn off then he MAY be good to go.

If the Norco bay is a/c powered and he leaves the hdd in the Norco and Sata plugs it into
another a/c powered unit of any kind via a longer cable then there is a chance of burning
everything out. 7 pin sata cables have 3 ground wires which will effectively connect the
two machines together. We had a contractor make that mistake with a $14k piece of
equipment a few years ago. The only item left usable was the case.

  #8  
Old January 22nd 17, 12:20 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
mike[_10_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,073
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

On 1/21/2017 7:57 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

I have a slide-in SATA bay on the 24-7 PC, but unscrewing the 4 little
screws that hold the drive in the NORCO sled every time is getting old.

I am thinking maybe just a long SATA + Power cable hanging out of the
d24-7 PC's case. Something like this:
http://www.satacables.com/micro_sata_cables.html in the 36" flavor.

Then I just plug it into drive's connectors without removing it from the
sled.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


I've had good luck with trayless SATA drive bays.

I have a couple of external ESATA hard drives.
SATA isn't designed to be used externally.
ESATA has the same pinout, but different connector.
I imagine it's designed to constrain EMI and static discharge.
I worry about connecting directly to the motherboard,
especially without some static dissipation near the cable end.
A chassis mounted ESATA socket might be a safer option.

The chassis mounts that I have don't include power, so that
doesn't solve that problem. I got some PCIe ESATA cards
that I'd feel much better about using,
but I don't have a spare PCIe slot.

Seems to work fine, but I fear that the outside power supply
might create static discharge or power glitch issues.

Back in the day, I killed a motherboard by plugging in a
centronics printer. I thought I'd been extremely careful
about static discharge. Been very wary about hanging motherboard
interfaces out to the real world.

If you're careless with trayless drives, you may be able to
kill the drive with static, but the motherboard should stay
safe.

What I'd like to see is a USB3 port that masquerades
as a SATA port so you could boot windows from it.
  #9  
Old January 22nd 17, 11:09 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

In message , Paul in Houston TX
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul in Houston TX
writes:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have a 20-bay Norco case with proprietary drive sleds.

Periodically, I want to remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and
run tests on the drive.

[]
Make sure that both machines are on the same power phase (A or B).

[]
As _I_ read Pete Cresswell's question, he wasn't thinking of
connecting the two machines
together - he was just wanting a way of hot-plugging (and
-unplugging) the drives without
having to (un)do four screws each time - i. e. having something like

[]
Just my thoughts from experience.
It's generally not a good idea to hook a/c powered devices together
without first determining if they are on the same phase. An easy way

[]
I guess we've probably bored the OP such that he's given up reading the
thread so won't tell us. But when he said "Periodically, I want to
remove a drive, take it over to my 24-7 PC, and run tests on the
drive.", it sounded to me like he _wasn't_ wanting to connect together
the two machines, just find a way of removing without having to do the
screws every time.

Your - and Paul's - warnings about connecting together machines are of
course valid. (And interesting to a UK reader: within _domestic_
premises here, we're nearly always on only one [220-240V] phase, though
the neighbour is probably on the next phase, so unwise to interconnect
across the garden fence!)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

so that the vendors can "serve you better". As if you were a tennis ball, I
guess. - Wolf K, in alt.windows7.general, 2014-7-21
  #10  
Old January 22nd 17, 02:38 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
(PeteCresswell)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,933
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
it sounded to me like he _wasn't_ wanting to connect together
the two machines, just find a way of removing without having to do the
screws every time.


Correctamundo...
--
Pete Cresswell
  #11  
Old January 22nd 17, 08:24 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
it sounded to me like he _wasn't_ wanting to connect together
the two machines, just find a way of removing without having to do the
screws every time.


Correctamundo...


Ah ha! I misread. Sorry for the confusion.
  #12  
Old January 23rd 17, 03:43 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Archer[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 27
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 10:57:49 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Does anybody see anything wrong with this idea? I'm thinking something
around static discharges and the exposed SATA connector.


I am doing it all the time. The spare SATA drive is just kept on top
of the PC with long cables whenever I check that drive.

--
Archer
  #13  
Old January 23rd 17, 09:55 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

In message , Paul in Houston TX
writes:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
it sounded to me like he _wasn't_ wanting to connect together
the two machines, just find a way of removing without having to do the
screws every time.


Correctamundo...


Ah ha! I misread. Sorry for the confusion.


I would suggest getting short extension cables (male to female, or if
they don't exist, a cable plus a back-to-back - if _those_ don't exist,
you're stuck!), to reduce the wear on the ones you use - AFAIK, even
good SATA connectors aren't really designed for more than about five to
ten matings. I don't know about the power rather than data ones, but I'd
expect the same applies there.

(The idea of the extension cables - or whatever - is to be sacrificial,
i. e. to be replaced when necessary after a few cycles, so that the
hard-to-replace ones only go through one cycle per cable, rather than
every time you [dis]connect a drive.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is too dark
to read." - Groucho Marx
  #14  
Old January 24th 17, 08:19 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Char Jackson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,449
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 20:55:39 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

I would suggest getting short extension cables (male to female, or if
they don't exist, a cable plus a back-to-back - if _those_ don't exist,
you're stuck!), to reduce the wear on the ones you use - AFAIK, even
good SATA connectors aren't really designed for more than about five to
ten matings. I don't know about the power rather than data ones, but I'd
expect the same applies there.


5 to 10 is a pretty small number. I usually see it written as 50.

Then, too, it's just a number they're supposed to hit in order to meet
the spec. I have cables here that I'm sure have been disconnected and
reconnected much more than 50 times.

--

Char Jackson
  #15  
Old January 24th 17, 09:16 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default SATA cable just hanging outside of PC?

Char Jackson wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 20:55:39 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

I would suggest getting short extension cables (male to female, or if
they don't exist, a cable plus a back-to-back - if _those_ don't exist,
you're stuck!), to reduce the wear on the ones you use - AFAIK, even
good SATA connectors aren't really designed for more than about five to
ten matings. I don't know about the power rather than data ones, but I'd
expect the same applies there.


5 to 10 is a pretty small number. I usually see it written as 50.

Then, too, it's just a number they're supposed to hit in order to meet
the spec. I have cables here that I'm sure have been disconnected and
reconnected much more than 50 times.


It's 50 for SATA and 5000 for ESATA, and 5000 for metal USB barrels.

The numbers are in a sense, "orders of magnitude". The message is,
don't use your plastic SATA cable as a doormat.

The numbers are selected so you'll remember "ESATA is pretty
damn good", "SATA, less so".

The cables on my test machine (cycled at least once a day for
over a year), are now well past the 50 cycle number. The trays
in the Antec Sonata face outwards, which is why it's so easy
to add or remove drives as needed. And then the connectors
see more action than they would in an ordinary computer case.
That's one feature I really really like. But you do need
a right-angle connector, so you can close the door without
fear.

Paul
 




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