SATA hard drive cables
SATA data cable
Always use an HP approved SATA 6.0 Gb/s cable as it is fully backwards compatible with the SATA 1.5 Gb/s
drives.
Current HP desktop products ship with SATA 6.0 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.
SMART ATA drives
The Self Monitoring Analysis and Recording Technology (SMART) ATA drives for the HP Personal Computers
have built-in drive failure prediction that warns the user or network administrator of an impending failure or
crash of the hard drive. The SMART drive tracks fault prediction and failure indication parameters such as
reallocated sector count, spin retry count, and calibration retry count. If the drive determines that a failure is
imminent, it generates a fault alert.
Cable management
Always follow good cable management practices when working inside the computer.
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Keep cables away from major heat sources like the heat sink.
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Do not jam cables on top of expansion cards or memory modules. Printed circuit cards like these are not
designed to take excessive pressure on them.
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Keep cables clear of sliding or moveable parts to prevent them from being cut or crimped when the parts
are moved.
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When folding a flat ribbon cable, never fold to a sharp crease. Sharp creases may damage the wires.
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Some flat ribbon cables come prefolded. Never change the folds on these cables.
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Do not bend any cable sharply. A sharp bend can break the internal wires.
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Never bend a SATA data cable tighter than a 30 mm (1.18 in) radius.
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Never crease a SATA data cable.
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Do not rely on components like the drive cage, power supply, or computer cover to push cables down
into the chassis. Always position the cables to lay properly by themselves.
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Chapter 3 Routine care, SATA drive guidelines, and disassembly preparation
