When you buy a new motherboard, you can be confident it will be supplied with a handful of SATA cables that will ensure the fastest SATA III connection. However, if you find you are connecting a SATA drive to an exisiting PC you might end up using an adapter cable of one sort or another, which can be a decent approach if you use appropriate hardware. On the other hand, if you use a SATA adapter that connects to USB you may well find your connection speed is restricted, so we strongly recommend you use a native SATA III cable whenever possible. In 2008 SATA was the standard for PC and laptop hard drives and SSDs however we are now moving beyond SATA. Of particular interest are M.2 drives that support the latest NVMe protocol. These SSDS offer the maximum level of performance and hence they appeal to enthusiasts who value performance above everything else. Although there is a myriad of computer products that are designated as SATA devices,the reason they are called that is that they use the SATA interface. In other words, your PC connects through two SATA ports, one on the drive and another on the motherboard. There have been a few alternative SATA interfaces over the years, like mSATA for laptop drives, which debuted in 2011. The latest generation of that technology was the M.2 standard. Currently, the fastest drives have moved beyond the mSATA interface and now take advantage of PCI Express ports for higher performance. Both connectors are typically reversed on the drives they allow connections for, with the bases of their respective “L” shapes facing one another. Beyond length, they can be told apart by the cables that connect to them. Where the SATA data cable is usually made up of solid plastic, which extends into a flat, single-band cable, the SATA power connector will continue from its head to multiple, thin, rounded wires of different colors.

SATA Adapter, USB 3.0 Hard Drive Adapter FIDECO IDE and SATA Adapter, USB 3.0 Hard Drive Adapter

Although most PCs in recent years have used SATA devices, there are a few different types that are worth noting. SATA was first introduced in 2000, replacing the aged PATA ribbon cables. It was revised in 2003 and again in 2004 and 2008, bringing SATA to version three, commonly referred to as SATA III or 3.0. These standards increased speed and added additional features to allow for faster and more reliable storage drives, but didn’t change the physical look of the SATA connector itself. SATA III is the most common SATA interface used today, though there have been five revisions since its introduction, namely 3.1 through 3.5. The mini-ITX platform is more popular today than ever. Its compact sizing with high-performance potential makes it great for gamers, content creators, and enthusiasts who seek a small yet capable system. In this guide, we will shed some light and explain everything that you need to know about mini-ITX and how you might want to go about building or buying one in the future. Mini-ITX is a small form factor (SFF) standard for motherboards and computer cases that was developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. Its main purpose was to allow for compact and space-efficient computer systems while retaining the basic functionality of a standard desktop computer.Although SATA connectors are described as a single port or connector, SATA encompasses two ports: The data connector and the power connector. The former is the short, L-shaped, seven-pin connector, while the latter is the more extended 15-pin connector — the taller “L” of the two. The mini-ITX platform is smaller than the more common ATX and micro-ATX standards. Most commonly used mini-ITX motherboards measure 170mm x 170mm (6.7 inches x 6.7 inches) and typically feature a single PCIe expansion slot, two RAM slots, and a variety of I/O ports for USB, SATA, audio, and networking. Despite their small size, mini-ITX motherboards are capable of supporting full-sized CPUs, memory, and storage devices, thus making them suitable for a wide range of computing tasks.