As SATA cable requirement was improvement to its EIDE predecessor, it is not further than reproach. There are many benefits to SATA cable, but with this requirement's tendency to be better served in workplace or server surroundings; it can frequently become a annoyance to average home customer.

Cable Lengths

1. As cable length of SATA specification is certainly much longer than EIDE--3.3 feet as opposite to 1.5 feet it is awkward to many customers with regard to airflow and cable management. Putting away some of these significantly longer cords frequently need particularly intended cases. Many customer level PC cases do not have these aspects and cables lean to collect in case and delay airflow, so reducing the thermal design of PC and eventually ending the life of its parts before wanted.

SATA Cable Locking

2. SATA requirement calls for a locking pin on cable connectors to guarantee a safe fit with these considerably smaller cables. As this is a marked benefit over EIDE cables, these locking pins are small pieces of plastic that are easy injured. Just putting SATA connector wrongly can harm locking mechanism, leaving the cable almost worthless. Then, a problem in SATA cable during routine system protection can direct to a broken pin and so an inoperative drive until a new cable is installed.

Blade Backplanes

3. The most preferred advances brought about by SATA requirement was ability to "hot swap" a drive that is, to remove or add a drive in real time without need to shut down PC. In an effort to modernize this, some drive companies made "blades" that combined SATA cable data connector and power connector in one plug. If this plug is someway injured, though, there is no assurance that a substitute will fit properly, as distance between SATA power connector and data connector not fit a new alternate plug. So you become dependent on this one company's cable. Failure to obtain an alternate can really make the drive itself inoperable as it is not able to be attached to a machine.

SATA Power Cables

4. Unlike the earlier drive specification, EIDE, SATA specification calls for a particular data and power cable. For users who are installing SATA drives into their PCs for first time, this need an upgrade of other parts to their PCs to be in operating necessities. Only new power supply units, or PSUs, come with these SATA power cables as a standard. The requirement for this particular power cable, which will control nothing but SATA drives, cause the customer to spend $100 to $300 on a new power supply that gathers all other requirements for his machine.

Space Considerations

5. As SATA data cable is many times less bulky in width, it is not multi-device-
capable. Each device needs its own SATA data cable. This can rapidly become big mass of cables that limits the maximum total permissible devices in PC case, although accessible SATA cable sockets. This, attached with requirement for an individual SATA power cable to run through this combination of data wires, can simply turn a potential system builder into a micromanager of space and heat because of cables' important heat production.