Questions about reliable SATA Extender and Mini-SAS-to-SATA cables

[Cyber Akuma]

I am trying to work out how I am going to wire all the drives in a new build and I am not sure what to do in regards to a few of the cables.

 

 

First thing is that I since I am upgrading from a 4-drive RAID5 to a 5-drive SATA6, I am going to need an additional mini-SAS to SATA adapter/cable. As far as I am aware, they only come in X4 SATA breakout cables and not a single one, so I guess I am going to have three additional unused ports as I am only adding one more drive to the RAID.

 

That being said, the issue is I am not sure what are good cables anymore. My RAID5 used to give me many problems, until I realized it was the crappy SAS-to-SATA cable I had, and once I replaced it the RAID started working fine. Issue is, it doesn't seem to be sold anymore from the place I got it. It's listed as a "HighPoint Int-MS-1M4S SFF-8087 to 4 SATA Fan Out Cable" and I originally got it from Newegg here: https://www.newegg.com/highpoint-int-ms-1m4s-cable/p/N82E16816115064

 

But while it used to be available recently, as of a few months ago it appears to be permanently sold out.

 

I tried looking for other places that sell the same cable, but all I have been able to find was an Amazon link that claims it's the same cable but visually it's clearly not: https://www.amazon.com/High-Point-Internal-Mini-SAS-Int-MS-1M4S/dp/B001L9DU88

 

Every other cable I can find at anywhere that sells them, they all look exactly like the crappy cable I had before that caused problems (the thin blue double-wires going to each SATA connector). Any recommendations for a good Mini-SAS to SATA cable? I honestly only need one more port, but I have no idea if a single version exists. I just want the cable to be of good quality.

 

 

The other issue is in regards to extending my SATA cables. I have heard many horror stories about extensions catching fire, though I am not sure if that's just those Molex to SATA adapters, or even just plain SATA to SATA extensions. And that it can be tricky to find a reliable merchant that sells good cables and doesn't just ship whatever is available where it can be random if you get a good cable or not, or even the same cables if you order several.

 

 

Not counting NVMEs, all together the system will have five HDDs, an optical drive, temporarily two SSDs (I want to eventually replace these with a single NVME), and the case has two hot-swap SATA bays that I would also like to wire up (Though said hot-swap bays are powered by a single Molex connector).

 

 

First of all, is that safe? The case using a single Molex to power two SATA drives/bays? I am not familiar with how much current Molex can handle/supply vs SATA power.

 

 

And that leaves me with needing 8 SATA power ports for my other drives. My PSU has more than enough, it's modular and has enough wiring for I think 10 or 12 SATA drives so that's not an issue, the issue is how much of a mess of unused plugs everywhere it would be if I used them as-is. (For example, the RAID drives. The PSU came with several power cables that have two or four SATA ports on them, so I would need at least two sets of cables for the RAID drives, but the unused ports would not be long enough to reach any of the other drives. Likewise the optical drive is on the top of the case and none of the other drives would be close enough to go off the same power cable).

 

So I was wondering if it would be safe or even advisable to use extensions to make everything a lot less messy, since I am already going to have a zillion cables all over the case that I have to try to manage so I want to reduce the number of cables, especially when half of them will have unused ports because they are not long enough. And if it is safe, can anyone recommend some good ones and a reliable place to get them? I have no idea which ones would be good.

 

 

Also, I noticed that among the cables for my PSU, there is a Molex to 2x SATA splitter. Can the ones that come with your PSU itself be trusted? Or is even that risky? My PSU is a 850 Watt Seasonic Platinum, so it's not some budget low-end PSU. Since I have to use at least one Molex connector for the hot-swap bays, and said Molex cable has two ports, I figured I could use said splitter to connect two other SATA drives.

[mariushm]

A classic hard drive consumes around 6-10 watts.  Usually it's around 3w on 5v for the electronics (chips on the circuit board on the back), and the rest of around 5-7 watts from 12v, for the motor that spins the platters.

When the hard drive starts, it will consume a bit more power from 12v for a few seconds until the motor spins up... let's say the hard drive will consume up to around 12-15 watts in total at that point, for a few seconds.

 

SSDs consume much less when they're not writing data, and they're powered only with 5v, usually idle at around 0.1w, around 2-3w from 5v when reading lots of data, and up to around 6-10 watts when writing data for long periods of time (let's say more than around 5-10s of continuous writes) - it depends on how many channels and how many nand chips inside the ssd, how the ssd controller spreads writes across multiple chips to achieve higher write speeds and so on.  

 

Each sata connector is good for 4.5A on each voltage  - so a single connector could supply around 50 watts to a device on 12v, and around 20 watts on 5v. For safety, I recommend not going over around 3A or around 35w on 12v. 

 

The molex connectors are rated for 5A on each voltage - so a single connector could supply safely around 60 watts on 12v and around 25 watts on 5v. 

 

So a molex -> 2xsata  or a SATA -> 2xsata should be fine when powering basic hard drives, their power consumption is not that big. 

 

Avoid MOLDED sata connectors - they're the connectors where the individual wires can not be individually pulled out from the connector.  The plastic housing on those connectors is weaker, more sensitive to heat, so it's possible for the connector to overheat and then the wires inside could shift and touch each other and cause short circuits and that's how you end up with burning connectors.

 

So stick with crimped or press-fit connectors  - crimped is where each wire is crimped to a contact and then the contacts are inserted into a housing. Press-fit is where the wires are sort of punched down / pressed between blades on each contact - these are common with 90 degree sata connectors.

 

Example of molded connectors - BAD : https://www.amazon.com/SDTC-Tech-Splitter-Adapter-Extension/dp/B07P12ZBYX/

 

Example of crimped connectors - GOOD : https://www.amazon.com/Server-Adapter-Converter-Extension-Splitter/dp/B079DL173Y/

(but stick to maximum 2-3 sata from a molex)

 

Example of press-fit connectors - GOOD :  

molex to 3 SATA press-fit : https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-108794-24-Inch-15-Pin-Female/dp/B009GULFJ0/

SATA to  4 SATA press-fit : https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Power-Splitter-Adapter-PYO4SATA/dp/B0086OGN9E/

 

So yeah, it's safe to use a single molex to power 2 drive bays, no matter what drives you have there.

 

If you have the drives all close to each other in the case, i would use two cables from the power supply, each with a bunch of sata connectors, and I'd use every other SATA connector on the cable 

cable 1:   [ drive1 --- empty --- drive 3 ----- empty ---- drive 5---------------------psu  

cable 2:                   [ drive 2--- empty ------drive 4 ---- empty --- drive 6 --------psu  

 

This way you don't tension the cables that much, you leave some bit of cable between drives, all's good. 

 

[Cyber Akuma]

Thanks, I know that molded connectors are bad, but the issue is more that I don't know which sellers/brands to trust. Some might have a picture of a good looking one but are just a generic "whatever we have in stock" seller that tosses you a molded one.

 

This also really doesn't help answer my questions about if I can trust the splitter from my PSU and where to get a good SATA extender (all the ones you linked are splitters. I don't need splitters, my PSU actually has more SATA ports than I need, it's length that I need). As well as there to g et a good quality Mini-SAS to SATA breakout cable.

 

I am wondering if it would be worth it to use cablemod to just custom-get cables with the ports and lengths I need, but that still doesn't solve the Mini-SAS issue.... also I have no idea how expensive that could get.

[mariushm]

You can buy individual sata connectors with up to 1.5 meters of wire ... here's an example : 0685610020 Molex | Cable Assemblies | DigiKey

It's then up to you where you solder or crimp the ends of the wires ... for example you could solder them directly into the power supply, or you could make your own small circuit board (like a fan hub) where they go to a couple of molex connectors or whatever.

[Cyber Akuma]

Soldering my own connectors is definitely NOT something I am going to be considering to be honest, especially not directly to the PSU.