A brief discussion on SAS Cable

Firstly, it is necessary to differentiate between the concepts of "port" and "interface connector" for SAS cables. The port of a hardware device is also known as an interface, and its electrical signals are defined by interface specifications, with the number depending on the design of the controller chip (Controller IC, including RoC). However, interfaces and ports must rely on physical forms of expression - mainly pins and plugs - to connect and form a data path. Therefore, interface connectors are always used in pairs: one side on the hard drive, HBA, RAID card or backplane "bites" with the other side on the cable. As for which side is the "receptacle connector" and which side is the "plug connector", it depends on the specific connection specifications.

SATA cables and connectors are relatively simple, with one port corresponding to one connector and a single lane connection. In contrast, SAS is more complex: it initially supported four wide links and up to four narrow ports aggregated into a wide port, with corresponding connector specifications. There are at least two types of SAS connectors, and when combined with the differences between internal and external connections, there are dozens of types of SAS cables. Additionally, various computer manufacturers have altered connector shapes for wiring purposes, resulting in even more types of SAS cables.