Question 1

I have some sata cables that are lettered with 6gbps and some that don't say anything. That leads me to think that there is a difference in the cables between type II and III.

Now I need an esata cable for a new machine.
Is this cable 6gbps? Is it lettered as 6gbps? Is there a difference and if so is there any way to tell between cables?

Thanks!

Accepted Answer

You are correct that there is indeed a difference between both esata and sata cables when it comes to type/speed.

Cables that are not labeled (that you arent buying new) I dont know of any way to tell without actually hooking them up.

Even then, as you probably know, you will NEVER get 6 gb/s  transfer speeds from a sata3, the best I have seen is close to 350Mb

However this will be noticably different from sata2 which gets about 200 and of course sata 1 will be even much less.

Obviously if you get the cable new, you will know which type it is  1,2,3

Question 2

Under features on this page it says:

Compliant with Serial ATA II Specifications
Fast data transfer rate of up to 300 MB/Sec

On the manufacture page for this product it says:

Compliant with Serial ATA III Specifications
Fast data transfer rate of up to 6 Gbps

?????

Accepted Answer

Few devices stress even SATA II specifications.  I have no device that approaches 300 MB/sec in transfer speed, but this cable clearly helps  transfer data MUCH quicker than USB2 or Firewire.  Laboratory tests have shown results that most cables that transfer SATA II speeds have no problem achieving SATA III specifications.

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