DiLinKer MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) to 4x SATA Cable, Forward Breakout, 100cm

One SFF-8643 port on your RAID card or motherboard, four 7-pin SATA connections one metre away. This is the plain forward breakout: no sideband wiring, no extra lead, just four clean links between the controller and four drives.

Why this is the version most builds need

• Forward, not reverse. SFF-8643 sits on the host side here — the controller or the board — and the four 7-pin ends go to the drives. A backplane is the opposite case: its 8643 is a socket that has to be fed, which takes the reverse breakout. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason a breakout cable appears dead on arrival.
• No sideband, so nothing to leave dangling. Plenty of cables ship with a little extra flying lead for the connector’s sideband pins. In a desktop build that lead either gets cut off or rattles around the case. This version does not have one, which also makes it the cheaper of the two 100 cm breakouts we stock.
• Four links that stay four links. There is no expander and no port multiplier inside. Each drive keeps its own 6 Gb/s link, so four drives show up as four devices and can fail, be replaced or be left empty independently.
• One metre of reach. Enough to cross a full-size tower, reach a 4-in-3 cage at the front of the case, or put drives on a bench next to an open chassis. If your routing is short, the 75 cm version does the same job with less cable to tuck away.

Specifications

Compatibility

Works with

• SFF-8643 host ports on RAID cards, HBAs and motherboards
• Four SATA hard drives or SSDs, including mixed capacities and models
• 4-bay cages and 4-in-3 drive modules fed directly from the controller

Does not work with

• SFF-8643 backplane ports — use the reverse breakout instead
• SAS drives — the drive ends are 7-pin SATA
• More than four drives; there is no expander in the cable
• PCIe or NVMe: this is a SATA breakout, not a U.2 cable

Typical deployments

• Four SATA spindles on one port. The classic 4-bay NAS or workstation build: one 8643 port, four drives, no backplane needed.
• Boot plus data split. Two links to mirrored system drives, two to a data pair, all keyed off a single controller port.
• Replacing a dead backplane in a hurry. When the cage is fine but its wiring is not, four direct links keep the machine running while you wait for parts.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know whether I need this or the reverse breakout?

Look at where the SFF-8643 lives. On the controller or motherboard, it is a port and you want this forward cable. On a backplane, it is a socket waiting to be fed, and you want the reverse one.

Do I need the GPIO version?

Only if your controller or chassis harness is wired to use the sideband pins. For four bare drives, this version is cheaper and has nothing left over to secure.

Can I leave some of the four links unconnected?

Yes. Unused 7-pin ends can simply hang free; the connected drives are unaffected.

Can I run SAS drives on it?

No. The drive ends are 7-pin SATA only. SAS drives need a SAS target connector.

Why does my drive not show up at all?

Check three things in order: the 8643 is on a host port and not a backplane; the controller port is enabled in firmware; and the drive is SATA, not SAS. If all three are fine, send us the controller model and we will look at the port mapping with you.

Is 100cm too long for signal integrity?

For 6 Gb/s SATA, one metre is well inside what passive copper handles. If you are chasing a marginal link, the usual causes are a bent latch or a worn connector, not the length.

In the box

• 1 × MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) to 4 × SATA breakout cable, 100 cm

Every cable is continuity- and pinout-tested before it ships and carries a 24-month warranty. If a link does not train, send us the controller model and the backplane part number before returning anything — in most cases the cable is the wrong variant for the port, not faulty, and we would rather tell you that up front.

Related

• Same cable with a GPIO sideband lead (100cm)
• Forward breakout, 75cm — the short version
• All MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) cables