Computers, Equipment
What are the connectors of hard drives?
Hard disk - a simple and small "box" in appearance, storing huge volumes of information in the computer of any modern user.
This is what she seems from the outside: quite simple stuff. Rarely, when recording, deleting, copying, and other actions with files of different importance, they reflect on the principle of the interaction of the hard disk with the computer. And if it's even more accurate - directly with the motherboard itself.
How these components are connected in a single uninterrupted operation, how the hard drive itself is arranged, what connectors it has and why each of them is designed is the key information about the storage device that is familiar to all.
Interface HDD
It is this term that can correctly call the interaction of the hard drive with the motherboard. The very word has a much broader meaning. For example, the interface of the program. In this case, the part that provides a way of interaction of the person with the software (convenient "friendly" design) is meant.
However, the interface interface is different. In the case of the HDD and the motherboard, it presents not a pleasant graphic design for the user, but a set of special lines and data transfer protocols. To each other these components are connected by means of a loop-cable with inputs at both ends. They are designed to connect to ports on the hard drive and the motherboard.
In other words, the entire interface on these devices is two cables. One is connected to the power connector of the hard drive from one end and to the computer's own PSU from the other. And the second of the loops connects the HDD to the motherboard.
As in the old days connected hard drive - IDE connector and other vestiges of the past
The very beginning, after which there are more advanced HDD interfaces. Ancient by today's standards, Integrated Drive Electronics appeared on the market around the 80's of last century. IDE literally means "built-in controller".
Being a parallel data interface, it is still called ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment. However, it was worthwhile to appear with the new SATA technology and gain a huge popularity in the market, as standard ATA was renamed PATA (Parallel ATA) in order to avoid confusion.
Extremely slow and very raw in its technical capabilities, this interface in the years of its popularity could pass from 100 to 133 megabytes per second. And then only in theory, since in real practice these indicators were even more modest. Of course, newer interfaces and hard drive connectors will show a noticeable IDE lag from the latest developments.
Do you think it's worth while minimizing attractive sides? The older generations probably remember that the technical capabilities of PATA allowed to serve two HDDs at once with only one loop connected to the motherboard. But the bandwidth of the line in this case was similarly distributed in half. And this is no longer mentioning the width of the wire, one way or another preventing the flow of fresh air from the fans in the system unit.
By now, the IDE has naturally become obsolete, both physically and morally. And if until recently this connector was found on the motherboards of the lower and middle price segment, now the manufacturers themselves do not see in it any prospects.
The universal favorite of SATA
For a long time, the IDE has become the most massive interface for working with storage media. But the technology of data transmission and processing was not stagnant for a long time, offering a conceptually new solution soon. Now it can be found almost from any owner of a personal computer. And the name is SATA (Serial ATA).
Distinctive features of this interface are parallel data transfer, low power consumption (relative to IDE), less heating of components. For all history of its popularity SATA has gone through development in three stages of audits:
- SATA I - 150 mb / s.
- SATA II - 300 mb / s.
- SATA III - 600 mb / s.
A third update also developed a couple of updates:
- 3.1 - more advanced throughput, but still limited by a limit of 600 mb / s.
- 3.2 with SATA Express specification - successfully implemented the merger of SATA and PCI-Express devices, which allowed to increase the speed of the interface read / write up to 1969 mb / s. Roughly speaking, the technology is an "adapter", which translates the normal SATA mode to a faster one, which the lines of PCI-connectors also have.
The real figures, of course, clearly differed from those officially announced. First of all, this causes excessive bandwidth of the interface - many modern drives have the same 600 MB / s unnecessarily, since they were not originally designed to work at such a read / write speed. Only with the passage of time, when the market will gradually become full of high-speed drives with incredible performance indicators for today, the technical potential of SATA will be fully utilized.
And finally, many physical aspects have been refined. SATA is designed to use longer cables (1 meter to 46 centimeters, which connected hard drives with an IDE connector) with much smaller dimensions and a pleasing appearance. Support for hot-swapping HDD is provided - you can connect / disconnect them without disconnecting the computer's power (although beforehand it is necessary to activate the AHCI mode in the BIOS).
The convenience of plugging the cable into the connectors has also increased. At the same time, all versions of the interface are backward compatible with each other (the SATA III hard drive connects to the SATA II connectors on the motherboard without problems, SATA I to SATA II, etc.). The only nuance - the maximum speed of working with data will be limited to the most "old" link.
Owners of older devices also will not stand aside - existing adapters with PATA to SATA will alternatively save from the more expensive purchase of a modern HDD or a new motherboard.
External SATA
But not always the standard hard disk is suitable for the user's tasks. There is a need to store large amounts of data that require use in different places and, accordingly, transportation. For such cases, when with one drive you have to work not only at home, and external hard drives are designed. In connection with the specifics of their device, they require a completely different connection interface.
This is also a kind of SATA, created under the connectors of external hard drives, with the prefix external. Physically, this interface is not compatible with standard SATA ports, but at the same time has the same bandwidth.
There is support for a "hot swap" HDD, and the length of the cable itself is increased to two meters.
In the initial version, eSATA only allows information to be exchanged, without supplying the required hard drive to the corresponding slot. This drawback, eliminating the need to use two plugging cables at once, was fixed with the advent of the Power eSATA modification, combining eSATA technology (responsible for data transfer) from USB (responsible for power).
Universal Serial Bus
In fact, becoming the most common standard for a serial interface for connecting digital technology, Universal Serial Bus is known to everyone today.
Moving the long history of permanent major changes, USB is a high speed data transfer, providing power to an unprecedented variety of peripheral devices, as well as simplicity and convenience in everyday use.
Developed by companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Phillips and US Robotics, the interface has become the embodiment of several technical aspirations:
- Expansion of the functionality of computers. The standard periphery before the appearance of USB was quite limited in variety and each type required a separate port (PS / 2, port for connecting the joystick, SCSI, etc.). With the advent of USB, it was conceived that it would become a single universal replacement, greatly simplifying the interaction of devices with the computer. Moreover, it was also assumed that this new development, for its time, would stimulate the appearance of non-traditional peripheral devices.
- Ensure the connection of mobile phones to computers. Distributing in those years the trend of transition of mobile networks to digital voice transmission revealed that none of the interfaces developed then could not provide data and speech from the phone.
- The invention of a comfortable "plug and play" principle, suitable for "hot-plugging".
As with the vast majority of digital technology, a USB connector for a hard drive has become a familiar phenomenon for us for a long time. However, in different years of its development this interface has always demonstrated new peaks of high-speed read / write information.
USB Version | Description | Throughput |
USB 1.0 | The first release of the interface after several preliminary versions. It was released on January 15, 1996. |
|
USB 1.1 | Completion of version 1.0, fixes a lot of its problems and errors. Released in September 1998, for the first time it gained massive popularity. | |
USB 2.0 | Released in April 2000, the second version of the interface has a new higher-speed mode of operation High-Speed. |
|
USB 3.0 | The newest generation of USB, which has received not only updated performance throughput, but also produced in blue / red. Date of appearance - 2008. | Up to 600 MB per second |
USB 3.1 | The further development of the third audit, which was published on July 31, 2013. It is divided into two versions, which can provide any hard disk with a USB-connector with a maximum speed of up to 10 Gbps. |
|
In addition to this specification, various versions of USB are also implemented for different types of devices. Among the varieties of cables and connectors of this interface are:
| USB 2.0 | Standard | Mini | Micro |
Type A | |||
Type B |
USB 3.0 already could offer another new type - C. The cables of this type are symmetrical and inserted into the corresponding device from either side.
On the other hand, the third revision does not already provide Mini and Micro "subspecies" of cables for type A.
Alternative FireWire
For all its popularity, eSATA and USB are not all options for how to connect the connector of an external hard drive to a computer.
FireWire - a little less popular in the masses of high-speed interface. Provides serial connection of external devices, the supported number of which also includes HDD.
Its isochronous data transmission feature has mainly found its application in multimedia technology (video cameras, DVD players, digital audio equipment). Hard drives connect them much less often, giving preference to SATA or a more perfect USB-interface.
This technology has gradually acquired its modern technical parameters. So, the original version of FireWire 400 (1394a) was faster than its then main competitor USB 1.0 - 400 megabits per second against 12. The maximum allowable cable length is 4.5 meters.
The arrival of USB 2.0 left the opponent behind, allowing the exchange of data at a speed of 480 megabits per second. However, with the release of the new standard FireWire 800 (1394b), which allowed to transfer 800 megabits per second with a maximum cable length of 100 meters, USB 2.0 on the market was less in demand. This provoked the development of the third version of the serial universal bus, which expanded the data exchange ceiling to 5 Gbit / s.
In addition, the distinguishing feature of FireWire is decentralization. The transfer of information through the USB-interface necessarily requires the presence of a PC. FireWire also allows you to exchange data between devices without necessarily bringing the computer to the process.
Thunderbolt
His vision of which hard drive connector should become an unconditional standard in the future was shown by Intel together with Apple, introducing the world to the Thunderbolt interface (or, according to its old code name, Light Peak).
Built on the PCI-E and DisplayPort architectures, this development allows data, video, audio and power to be transmitted through a single port with a truly impressive speed - up to 10 Gb / s. In real tests, this indicator was slightly more modest and reached a maximum of 8 Gb / s. Nevertheless, even so Thunderbolt has overtaken its nearest FireWire 800 analogs and USB 3.0, not to mention eSATA.
But this promising idea of a single port and a connector has not yet received the same mass distribution. Although some manufacturers today successfully built-in external hard drive connectors, the Thunderbolt interface. On the other hand, the price for technical capabilities of the technology is also relatively large, so this development is found mainly among expensive devices.
Compatibility with USB and FireWire can be provided with the help of appropriate adapters. This approach will not make them faster in terms of data transfer, because the bandwidth of both interfaces will still remain unchanged. The advantage here is only one thing - Thunderbolt will not be a limiting link for such a connection, allowing you to use all the technical capabilities of USB and FireWire.
SCSI and SAS are what not everyone has heard of
Another parallel interface connecting peripherals, shifting at one point the emphasis of its development from desktop computers to a wider range of equipment.
"Small Computer System Interface" was developed a bit earlier SATA II. By the time the latter came out, both interfaces were almost identical to each other, capable of providing a hard drive connection with stable operation from computers. However, SCSI used a common bus in its work, because of which only one of the connected devices could work with the controller.
Further refinement of the technology, which acquired the new name SAS (Serial Attached SCSI), was already deprived of its former lack. SAS provides connection of devices with a set of managed SCSI commands on the physical interface, which is similar to the same SATA. However, more opportunities allow you to connect not only the connectors of hard drives, but also many other peripherals (printers, scanners, etc.).
It supports hot swappable devices, bus extenders with the ability to simultaneously connect multiple SAS devices to a single port, and also provides backward compatibility with SATA.
NAS Perspectives
The most interesting way to work with large amounts of data, is rapidly gaining popularity in the circles of modern users.
Network Attached Storage or abbreviated NAS are a separate computer with some disk array that is connected to the network (often local) and provides storage and transfer of data among other connected computers.
When acting as a network storage, this mini server is connected to other devices using an ordinary Ethernet cable. Further access to its settings is carried out through any browser with connection to the NAS network address. Available data on it can be used either over an Ethernet cable or using Wi-Fi.
This technology allows you to provide a fairly reliable level of information storage and provide easy convenient access to it for trusted persons.
Features of connecting hard drives to laptops
The principle of HDD operation with a stationary computer is extremely simple and understandable to everyone - in most cases it is required to connect the power connectors of the hard disk to the power supply with the appropriate cable and connect the device to the motherboard in a similar way. When using external drives, you can do with only one loop (Power eSATA, Thunderbolt).
But how to properly use the hard drive connectors of laptops? After all, another design obliges to take into account and a few other nuances.
First, to connect storage devices directly "inside" the device itself, it should be taken into account that the HDD form factor should be designated as 2.5 "
Secondly, in a laptop the hard disk is connected directly to the motherboard. Without any additional cables. It is enough simply to unscrew the HDD cover on the bottom of the notebook previously turned off. It has a rectangular shape and is usually fastened by a pair of bolts. It is in that capacity and you need to put the storage device.
All connectors of laptop hard drives are absolutely identical to their larger "counterparts" intended for PCs.
Another option is to use an adapter. For example, a SATA III drive can be connected to USB ports installed on a laptop using a SATA-USB adapter (many such devices are on the market for a variety of interfaces).
Just connect the HDD to the adapter. It, in turn, connect to a 220V socket for power supply. And already connect the USB cable to the whole of this design with the laptop, after which the hard drive will be displayed during operation as another section.
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