Anyone know of a good combo SATA cable that has a locking latch? I'm partial to the combo cables, mostly so I don't forget to order something. I hate to say price is no object, but at this point in the Great unRAID Meltdown of 2010, I'd like to make sure as few things can go wrong as possible.

 

Alternatively, I'd like to hear reasons for using separate cables (and recommendations for same).

Might take a week or two to get them as they ship from overseas but you can get a 10-pack for about $8 shipped:

 

http://www.meritline.com/straight-to-right-serial-ata-sata-data-cables---p-38336.aspx

What is a combo cable?  Do you mean data and power on the same cable?  I've never seen that.

The one I use is this one. Mostly, it's so I don't forget to order one or the other, but they do seem to prevent connection issues better. I've got exactly no empirical evidence to back that up, of course.

 

I'd still like to be able to latch them, particularly on the motherboard SATA connection. I have yet to find any, though.

Huh, interesting.  I've never seen that before, but I guess it makes sense.  I imagine the larger profile of the combo cable may help prevent accidental cable nudging as well.  As you say, a locking version would be the best of both worlds.

Tivo has been using this type of cable in their series 3 and newer models for over three years now.  I'm surprised their popularity hasn't taken off.  It's definitely more convenient than having to plug in two cables on a hard drive, especially if the working area is a bit tight.

theyre only useful if theyre soldered directly to your psu, which they arent, so they arent. the extra connection made increases resistance and when yore talking 10+ hdds this can be havoc on stable power. not to mention its just another point of failuredogeyness.

theyre only useful if theyre soldered directly to your psu, which they arent, so they arent. the extra connection made increases resistance and when yore talking 10+ hdds this can be havoc on stable power. not to mention its just another point of failuredogeyness.

 

I don't understand what you're saying here... there are no extra connections, just the drive and the power dongles. The ends that connect to the HDD are just stuck together.

your epluggin another cable into your psu cable, instead of directly into the drive.

 

many a random disk problems can be found from dodgey Y splitter power cables, due to the same effect.

Ah, I see. I'll accept that the extra connection has the potential for causing grief, but if your PSU doesn't have direct SATA power connects, you're going to have this regardless of what you do. The combo cable doesn't add any *extra* potential.

 

Regardless, I'll take away the message "dedicated SATA power cables are ideal" from this.

the best thing to do is either use a backplane, or buy the sata power clip ons for $1.50 and clip them directly onto your psu wiring.