Cable splice. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 10:21:39 pm
content: I'm looking for some info on splicing a sata cable, if possible. Firstly I needed a sata data and power cable in one cable, I have a few of these. But what I was hoping to find was a sata male to sata male, the adapter would carry power and data. I've looked everywhere I can think of, a can't find one. So I'm going to try and splice two male ends to make the cable. The intended use is in a thin client, to try out sata to usb 3 for a flash drive as the storage device. In the past I've tried usb 2 sata to 2.5" ssd, and sata, and 44 pin ide to compact flash, oh and sd card in usb adapter. All work reasonably well. The only option I haven't tried is usb 3, I still need to get a sata to usb 3 adapter cable. But finding a male to male sata, power and data cable doesn't seem to exist. So the idea is the usb 3 adapter cable interfaces the internal sata socket. There is a 44 pin ide, and mini pcie connectors on the thin clients motherboard. And I have buzzed out the conductors, all ground seem to have continuity across each other. Can the grounds be connected as one ground ? I was going to use 8 rows of stripboard, then epoxy, and finally heat shrink for a half decent spliced cable. The other notable thing I found was the conductors are quite sprung as wire goes, no idea how they will take to solder.Thoughts appreciated.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 10:41:07 pm
content: Do not try and splice that. You will not get a reliable result.And connecting a SATA host to a USB 3 flash device won't work, either. What's wrong with just using the SATA normally?

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 12:27:55 am
content: Nothing wrong with using sata as would be the norm, ssd's work very well. I've found usb 3 to sata adapter on Amazon and thought I'd try it. The only problem was the sata interface on the usb 3 adapter is female, so is the thin client motherboard sata socket. So I was going to try and put together a male to male sata lead, to interface the usb 3 adapter. Most of the IT stuff I've tried, hardware related, works most of the time. But occasionally it doesn't, but before quitting I thought it worth a try.I would still have to make up a gender changer for the usb male on the adapter.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 12:29:12 am
content: It simply doesn't work that way around - which is why you can't plug it in..

author: gcewing
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:00:39 pm
content: This looks like a device to make a SATA drive appear to a computer to be a USB drive. It sounds like you want to go the other way, and make a USB drive appear to be a SATA drive to the computer. I don't know if any such thing exists.

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:23:41 pm
content: Yes, that's about it. I don't know if that would work, I have other connectivity options in the thin client. It's a HPT5740 with 4 GB Ram and an N280 intel atom. I've other models of thin clients, and over a few years have installed ssd 2.5" drives, run linux from an SD card in a dell optiplex 170, and run linux on a 10Zig using a 32GB compact flash drive via adaptor. The only thing I haven't tried is usb 3. So I'm searching for a way for linux to see a usb 3 flash drive. I have a sata with power socket, 44 pin ide header, mPCIe socket, and what looks like PCI or PCIe slot, and 2 x usb 2 ports internal. Some how there must be a way to try usb 3 as the main storage device. Linux sees just about anything that's plugged in to the thin client. I've run windows 10 on a HP T610 with 8GB Ram and an AMD 1.65 Ghz T56N dual core processor. That's quite usable. So I'm searching for a way to try usb 3 as the storage device. I can see PCI usb 3 cards, but space inside the chassis is limited, although extension cable might be an option. I will keep search6for a possible solution. Thanks for your replys.PS. A long time ago now, the inspiration came from this excellent web sitehttps://www.parkytowers.me.uk

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:44:20 pm
content: If you want to use USB 3 you will indeed need a USB 3 controller. You can't just arbitrarily convert devices into other interfaces.What, however, is the point? You have native SATA - this is substantially faster on such an underpowered device.

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 09:12:22 pm
content: It's just an interest. If I need a usb 3 controller, I will try and find a way to incorporate it, and hopefully install Linux on a 128GB usb flash drive I have. I didn't think it would run on an SD card, or a compact flash drive, but it does. Nothing wrong with native sata, I just like trying different ideas. And that for me applys to a lot of suff I'm interested in. Once I've exusted all avenues, then I will except it can't be done. Isn't that what hobby electronics is all about ? Trying different ideas of one kind or another.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 10:06:27 pm
content: It's doubtful the BIOS will let you boot from an extra card. Other than that, of course it will work, it's just a block device.

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 07:41:16 am
content: If the thin client has PCIe slot - get a PCIe USB3 card. No fiddling around trying to get SATA to USB.

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 01:54:11 pm
content: I was thinking I might have to forget the sata to usb 3 connectivity options. There is an expansion caddy that houses a PCIe x4 via a riser cable. The caddy doubles the width of the client, not a deal breaker, but at £50 the price is. The client didn't cost that much. It seems to be mPCIe socket, and a full length PCIe at x4 rating. Most usb add in cards are meant for full height or low profile configurations. It might be possible to add a usb card via a cable if I can find that. The mPCIe would offer the greatest space saving, if it's even an option. As the unit relies on convection cooling, less inside the case is best. I'm not against adding a thin axial fan. I've done that in another thin client in the past. A good hole saw cut out the 80mm aperture. Yes I will research and try and find a mPCIe / PCI x4 usb 3 option. Thanks for all the replies.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 02:02:15 pm
content: Quote from: davelectronic on July 20, 2020, 01:54:11 pmIt's not actually an option to use a USB storage device via a SATA port anyway. And a SATA device via USB, while possible, is completely silly when you have SATA. (and, as I said, it will of course work, although the BIOS may not let you boot from it directly)

author: davelectronic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 11:51:16 pm
content: No, indeed. I was just thinking of trying usb 3 and a flash drive as the main storage drive. I'm not fussy which interface that might be. It's about trying usb 3 speeds with a Linux distros, I've tried usb 2 devices, and although it works ok it's not as quick as I had hoped. Sure sata and ssd is the fastest, probably. This is just the erge to scratch an itch, if that makes sense. Sometimes finding out new unheard of ideas can lead to all sorts of really good ideas. I'm not saying it's a great idea necessarily, but interesting none the less. What I have found is a couple of pieces of hardware, although it's still a bit expensive for trying this idea. £20 just about for both items, see images below. There are cheaper options, but it's only available directly from China, and that slow boat does take a long time. The two items have good reviews, still no guarantee it will work, but I might give it a go. The thin client has a 4x PCIe slot, the usb 3 card has two ports. I would have to remove the bracket and find a solution to mount it internally.