Nathan Davis10 April 2007, 9:34 PM
Will the new revision of SATA finally do away with separate power and data cables? We went straight to the top of SATA-IO and asked the tough questions.
SATA-IO, the organisation behind SATA standards, recently popped the lid on a new revision -- 2.6 -- of the standards.
The press release didn't say much, so we went to the source and asked the tough questions as only a tech journo can, such as when the SATA cable will include power.
We were put in touch with Knut Grimsrud, SATA-IO's president, and Frank Chu who, we're told, is Hitachi's and SATA-IO's "CabCon Work Group Chair."
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It turns out the new revision of the SATA standard introduces some interesting new tech, among a few new connectors.
For starters, those ridiculously tiny 1.8-inch iPod hard drives can finally lay claim to their own SATA connector, called Micro SATA.
In fact, it turns out it's also compatible with desktop SATA cables. "The signal segment of the new micro SATA connector for 1.8-inch HDD is completely compatible with standard desktop cable," Grimsrud and Chu told me.
Apparently a SATA cable was designed specifically for these 1.8-inch hard drives because "the traditional SATA connector is a bit too large to fit the narrow side" of the minuscule devices.
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According to Knut-Chu, another new connection, titled 'Slimline,' was designed "for the optical swap bay used in laptops," so this means slimline SATA optical drives can now easily make their way into notebooks and small form factor systems.
If it's another area where PATA's going to die off, that's good enough for us.
The revision also specifies something called 'NCQ unload enhancement.' This technology is useful for notebook hard drives that lack drop sensors.
Basically, if a live notebook suddenly finds itself in a non-ideal mid-air situation, thanks to sensors built into the notebook, the SATA controller lets the drive know that it's about to get its butt kicked. And to kindly do something about it.
The organisation also designed a third connector, called Mini SATA, and it features both internal and external connectors.
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It's basically a quad-lane connector -- smaller than its older brother -- which is designed for high-bandwidth, where one SATA cable, or lane, just isn't fast enough.
So, how about that single SATA data and power cable -- will we ever see one? Well, nothing is set in stone, but "developing a solution for this has not been ruled out," Grimsrud and Chu promised. Meh.