S-ATA 6G and xS-ATA break cover

[Alpine]

IDF First hints of drives arriveTWO rapidly approaching items were disclosed at IDF from the people who brought you S-ATA, xSATA and SATA 6G. Neither is fully baked but xSATA is closer to being done than 6G.



xSATA is the more interesting of the two, it defines an eight metre external cable length for S-ATA, with some extras and a few asterisks. The first asterisk it the name, X is not for eXternal, that name was taken by eSATA, so the X probably means Xtreme or something.

The eight meter length is more meant for cabinet to cabinet wiring, but you could conceivably use it in home theatre settings. That brings up one of the other asterisks, the external boxes. xSATA is not meant for drive to controller connections directly, it serves as a point to point relay between expansion type boxes.

The reason for this is simple, while xSATA uses the same cable type as SATA1/2/e, it can carry multiple signals at once. The signals are multiplexed over the same cable, and you need the boxes on either side for the mux/demux. If you think about it, it all makes sense.

S-ATA 6G is a little farther down the line, they are just getting serious about defining it and working on it. The whole SATA 1/1.5/2/2.5 turned into a pretty messy bit of consumer confusion, and the 6G name is meant to clear a lot of that up. 6G is short for 6 Gigabit, the speed at which the drives will transfer data across the S-ATA link. With any luck, they will get it out soon and the 6G name will avoid the problems associated with what parts of the spec constitute one versus two, or other things. xSATA will most likely be one of those supported pieces, along with a host of others. I would expect more details by spring IDF.

The INQuirer