5Serial ATA (SATA) Drive Guidelines and Features

NOTE: HP only supports the use of SATA hard drives on these models of computer. No Parallel ATA (PATA) drives are supported.

SATA Hard Drives

Serial ATA Hard Drive Characteristics

Number of pins/conductors in data cable

7/7

 

 

 

 

Number of pins in power cable

15

 

 

 

Maximum data cable length

39.37 in (100 cm)

 

 

Data interface voltage differential

400-700 mV

 

 

 

Drive voltages

3.3

V, 5 V, 12 V

 

 

 

Jumpers for configuring drive

N/A

 

 

 

 

Data transfer rate

3.0

Gb/s

 

 

 

SATA Hard Drive Cables

SATA Data Cable

Always use an HP approved SATA 3.0 Gb/s cable as it is fully backwards compatible with the SATA 1.5 Gb/s drives.

Current HP desktop products ship with SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drives.

SATA data cables are susceptible to damage if overflexed. Never crease a SATA data cable and never bend it tighter than a 30 mm (1.18 in) radius.

The SATA data cable is a thin, 7-pin cable designed to transmit data for only a single drive.

40 Chapter 5 Serial ATA (SATA) Drive Guidelines and Features