Have you ever looked closely at the length of the plugin contacts on a SATA connector and wondered why they were different lengths instead of identical? Why is that? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a curious reader’s question.
Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.
Photo courtesy of Steve Paine (Flickr).
The Question
SuperUser reader Carl B wants to know why there are different contact lengths on SATA connectors:
Why are there different contact lengths on SATA connectors?
The Answer
SuperUser contributor Techie007 has the answer for us:
Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
Data:
Power:
Ground contacts are slightly longer than data/power contacts on connectors that are designed for regular plugging and unplugging (especially in the case of hot-swap capable interfaces, like SATA) to ensure that the ground contacts are connected before any data/power ones are. This helps prevent electrical discharge into the device when attaching or removing it.
mSATA is an internal, clamp-down, “permanent” connector type, so it is not intended to be plugged and unplugged on a regular basis (by end users), and definitely not while the power is on.
