Raid vs. SATA Interface Cable???

[blshoaf]

Are the raid and sata hard drive interface cables the same?

The raid cable seems to fit the sockets of the sata, but I'm not sure enough to try it without knowing for sure.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

[saphalline]

RAID is not a hardware interface - it's a way of organizing hard drives. Sort of like saying "my car is a Lamborghini" vs saying "my car is green". They both tell you different things about your car. You can have a SATA hard drive in a RAID array, or you can have a PATA hard drive in a RAID array. But RAID itself is not a type of cable.

[blshoaf]

Sorry for the mistaken terminology.

I meant to ask: can one use a cable used for raid with a sata drive?

I hope I've said it correctly. If not, I'll try agan.

[blshoaf]

looking back at my question, I think it was clear enough to get a reasonable question answered. I think it was clear I mean cable.

[Erik]

Sorry for the mistaken terminology.

I meant to ask: can one use a cable used for raid with a sata drive?

I hope I've said it correctly. If not, I'll try agan.

Re-read what saphalline said. There is no such thing as a RAID cable, RIAD is just a way of organizing drives.

A cable is either SATA or PATA, end of story. RAID has to do with the controller.

[Paul Komski]

RAID (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID) is specialised organisation of disks done either by hardware or by software.

SATA HDDs use SATA cables
IDE HDDs use IDE/ATAPI cables
SCSI HDDs use SCSI cables

Commonly nowadays two SATA HDDs (using SATA cables of course) can be configured in the RAID BIOS (if the chipset exists) into RAID 0 (STRIPE) or RAID 1 (MIRROR). Some chipsets allow both SATA and IDE to be mixed and added to a RAID array in which case you could have a RAID with one SATA and one IDE HDD - both with their own different cables.

Now re-read this thread again.

[rond36]

Bob, the answer to your question is yes.

The SATA cable used for a SATA hard drive in a RAID array and the cable used for a single SATA hard drive is the same type.

The term RAID only refers to how data is written to the hard drives and both RAID and non-RAID configurations use the same cables and hard drives.

[blshoaf]

Thanks rond36. Simple answer.

[saphalline]

Oh geez. :rolleyes: I'm so sorry I tried to educate you and figure out what type of cable you're using. In the future I'll remember that you just want a 'yes' or 'no' answer.