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Difficulty: MediumNetwork and Peripheral Cables and Connectors

A desktop technician needs to connect an external hard drive enclosure directly to a storage host bus adapter card on a workstation to achieve native 6 Gbps SATA transfer speeds without protocol conversion overhead. The external enclosure features a shielded 7-pin keyed connector port designed specifically for external peripheral attachments. Which cable type and maximum distance specification should the technician deploy?

  1. eSATA cable with a maximum length of 2 metersAnswer
  2. B
    Internal SATA cable with a maximum length of 1 meter
  3. C
    USB 3.0 Type-A to Type-B cable with a maximum length of 5 meters
  4. D
    Molex 4-pin peripheral power extension cable with a maximum length of 3 meters

Answer

An eSATA cable with a maximum standard length of 2 meters provides native SATA storage connectivity for external drive enclosures.
The eSATA (External Serial ATA) standard uses a specially shielded 7-pin connector designed to withstand insertion wear and provide extra protection against electromagnetic interference (EMI). Unlike internal SATA cables (which are restricted to 1 m1\text{ m}), eSATA supports cable runs up to 2 m2\text{ m} while maintaining direct 6 Gbps bus transfer speeds without protocol bridging.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the required peripheral protocol and connector type based on specifications.
The requirement specifies native SATA 6 Gbps connectivity to an external 7-pin shielded peripheral port, matching the eSATA specification.
eSATA provides a dedicated external physical interface with extra shielding and insertion retention mechanisms specifically designed for external SATA storage enclosures.
2
Verify maximum cable length standards for the selected cable type.
The maximum recommended cable length for eSATA is 2 meters (2 m2\text{ m}), compared to 1 meter (1 m1\text{ m}) for internal SATA data ribbon cables.
eSATA specifications allow slightly higher voltage transmit levels and improved receiver sensitivity to support longer shielded cable runs up to 2 meters.

Key Concept

eSATA vs Internal SATA standards and distance limits
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Network and Peripheral Cables and Connectors

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