turb: Surely cables carrying digital information will just work? (Or not, I guess)

Nah, cheap Mini USB cables have thin copper and can not carry enough current to fast-charge modern smart phones. Install the Ampere app on your android and test some cables and you'll see what I mean.

With regard to SATA cables, I find that the presence (or absence) of the little metal locking clip on the plugs is a good indicator of quality - the nasty cables are too cheap to have the metal clip, where as if the maker isn't cutting corners on materials, the plugs have the clips on them.

tripper1000:

 

turb: Surely cables carrying digital information will just work? (Or not, I guess)

 

 

 

Nah, cheap Mini USB cables have thin copper and can not carry enough current to fast-charge modern smart phones. Install the Ampere app on your android and test some cables and you'll see what I mean.

 

With regard to SATA cables, I find that the presence (or absence) of the little metal locking clip on the plugs is a good indicator of quality - the nasty cables are too cheap to have the metal clip, where as if the maker isn't cutting corners on materials, the plugs have the clips on them.

 

My favorite sata cables were the black Asus ones and blue gigabytes. Mostly becauyse you could get a 90* header on them and it worked very well for my cable management. As for cables themselves, 1000's of youtube videos will prove that xyz copper plating this that the rest is just marketing. Obliviously a 50c Chinese cable is rubbish. Think of monster cables.. 

I find Dynamix cables are generally good value for money. Pretty much any IT store in NZ will stock them.

Ascent Computers have been reliable a well priced. Mighty Ape are good also. 

Foot note,  Chinese cables are OK

+1 on dynamix cables. I hate the right angle sata plugs - cant use that at the mobo end, and the drive end it ends up hitting the flat surface under the drive. Perhaps useful on a 3.5 drive that is in one of those front stacks of drives but useless for ssds since they cant be stacked with right angles or flat behind the mobo tray out of sight and mind.

My experience with Chinese merchandise in general is that some is quite good, some is absolute rubbish. The problem is knowing which is which.

I have now had bad experiences with SATA cables on two separate occasions. This caused me a lot of headaches while trying to fault-find. I want to eliminate that possibility by getting cables that I know I can rely on.

i find its the chinese sata Power cables that you have to be alot more careful with buying...

most of the cheaper sata data cables i've had a failure rate of 1 in 20 or so (little volume i know)

tripper1000:

turb: Surely cables carrying digital information will just work? (Or not, I guess)

 

Nah, cheap Mini USB cables have thin copper and can not carry enough current to fast-charge modern smart phones. Install the Ampere app on your android and test some cables and you'll see what I mean.

The cheap USB cables also give me problems with random disconnect/reconncts on the connected devices. Would have been sitting at the computer and it does the noise, then the connect noise and all the external drives on the hub would open up their explorer windows as if just plugged into the PC.

Got a nicer looking cable off aliexpress and problem gone away now. Guess the jaycar one I got a while back was just a piece of crap.

turb:

tripper1000:

 

turb: Surely cables carrying digital information will just work? (Or not, I guess)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, cheap Mini USB cables have thin copper and can not carry enough current to fast-charge modern smart phones. Install the Ampere app on your android and test some cables and you'll see what I mean.

 

No doubt, but charging a phone isn't digital information.

But when the MPF can not handle the current going over it then it will not charge at such a fast rate. How ever electrons still make it from A-B..

I've found ugreen cables on aliexpress to be really good quality. Sata data cables I'm not really that fussed I just use what comes in the box or what is lying around as I'm not unplugging and plugging them in much if at all.

Anker cables seem to be lasting well for me - both apple lightning and microUSB... 

Another +1 for Dynamix. I brought quite a few Dynamix cables over a couple years through Cables Direct and haven't ever had any problems.