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Question

Difficulty: EasyStorage Devices and Interfaces

A technician is attempting to connect a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard drive directly to a motherboard's native SATA controller port using a standard SATA data cable. However, the technician notices that the standard SATA cable connector physically cannot attach to the SAS drive interface. Which of the following physical design features of the SAS drive interface prevents the standard SATA cable from being inserted?

  1. The SAS drive interface includes a continuous plastic bridge between the data and power pin segments.Answer
  2. B
    The SAS drive uses an M-key edge connector pattern designed exclusively for NVMe motherboard slots.
  3. C
    The SAS connector relies on an eSATA outer metal shielding sleeve that blocks internal cable housings.
  4. D
    The SAS interface requires an active USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode physical connector for host communication.

Answer

The SAS drive interface includes a continuous plastic bridge between the data and power pin segments, which physically prevents a standard SATA data cable from seating onto the connector.
SAS drives are manufactured with a continuous plastic bridge between the data and power connector pins. This solid bridge physically blocks standard SATA data cables from attaching to the drive, preventing users from attempting to run a SAS drive on a motherboard SATA host controller that lacks SAS protocol support.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the physical connector design of SAS drives compared to standard SATA drives.
SATA drives separate the 7-pin data connector and 15-pin power connector with a physical gap, while SAS drives bridge this gap with a solid plastic molded structure containing secondary channel pins.
This physical design prevents SAS drives from being accidentally connected directly to SATA host controllers that cannot process SAS commands.
2
Evaluate host controller compatibility requirements for SAS drives.
Because of the plastic bridge, connecting a SAS drive requires a SAS controller (or Host Bus Adapter) with a dedicated SAS cable/backplane that accommodates the single-piece connector.
SAS host controllers support both SATA and SAS drives, but standard SATA controllers cannot support SAS drives.

Key Concept

SAS vs SATA physical connector keying and controller compatibility
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Topics

Storage Devices and Interfaces

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