Tripp Lite P950-18I 18-Inch Serial ATA II Signal Cable, 2x7-pin Straight Connector 18-in.

Good quality, working as expected

I purchased this cable to use with an external hard drive that can back up data over either USB 3.0 or eSATA. There's not much to say about a simple cable. Either it works, or it doesn't; and this one works exactly as expected. The cable is really solid, with a thick insulator and internal wire, with high quality connectors on both ends, right where it's the most important. It's nice to see a cable that's not flimsy at all for a change, something I expect to use for a very long time to come. Just to remove all doubt, this cable is most definitely as eSATA cable, NOT an SATA cable used for internal drives. Anyone who says otherwise is mistaken.

The cable looks and feels tough. There is no way to know for sure how good the wires are inside but judging from the stiffness of the sheath, this cable seams durable. Some might not like the flat stiff cable but that seems inherent with SATA cables. The length is perfect. The only thing I worry about is the actual connector. Who ever came up with this thin frail connector should be in shame. It's not this cable manufacturers fault, it's just the design standard that they have to follow (Although tougher plastic could be used?). I have no issue with this after minimal use but I have had these delicate cable connectors break after repeated use. I'll hope for the best on this one.

I was looking for an eSATA to eSATA external cable that latches. I have an external enclosure for a SATA drive with a female eSATA connector on the back. I purchased an eSATA bracket to mount in an expansion slot on the back of my DELL Precision T3500 desktop computer. The idea was to find a cable that locks in place such that it will not come out of the eSATA female receiver when accidentally tugged on. But apparently the industry has not standardized on a latching cable for external "e" SATA, although they have for internal SATA from SATA II upward. It seems that a latching external cable would be even more important outside the cabinet than inside, but alas, after searching high and low, there were virtually no latching eSATA cables to be found. Except for this Tripp Lite cable whose product description claims "These cables feature 7-pin straight latching (Male)...". I found this hard to believe on the basis a true latching cable would be dependent on the female receiver being designed to take part in the latching process (as is the norm in male/female relationships of all kinds). But I really really wanted a latching cable so I actually called Tripp Lite and asked them about this. I was assured by a Tripp Lite product specialist that indeed the cable would latch to "any" eSATA receptacle. Wrong! That was all malarkey. When I plugged the Tripp Lite eSATA cable into a high quality eSATA female jack there was no latching sound, and the cable pulled out without the need to "de-latch" it by squeezing on the latch. In fact, I could not even identify a latching mechanism on the plug (as with SATA II cables) that might mate with a proper receptacle. Having said that these cables appear to be of high quality construction. I have little experience with eSATA cabling, but as an example the Tripp Lite cables were stiffer than the first set of eSATA cables I bought off Amazon here:C2G / Cables to Go 10220 External Serial ATA Cable (1 Meters, Black) . Both brands use 26 gauge wires. The Tripp Lite cables are claimed to be shielded, while the Cable to Go cables mysteriously refer to shielded cabling, but in fact don't claim that the cable itself is shielded. The Tripp Lite cables outer sheath also appears that it would be more impervious to liquids than the Cables to Go cable. One place I know I bought too cheap was with the eSATA bracket:2-Port SATA to eSATA Adapter With Bracket for Dell computer . I paid .01 cent for this bracket and that's exactly what it's worth. Neither the Cables to Go cable or the Tripp Lite cable would stay plugged in to the eSATA jack on this bracket (see my review at the product link for an alternative bracket). Moral of the story: Don't EVER penny pinch on cables or connectors. Cables are the easiest products for manufacturers to cut corners on because most consumer can't tell the difference. A cheap cable however can translate to spurious, hard to pin down errors that will drive you crazy. In the end I am pretty happy because with the replacement eSATA female bracket I purchased, although the cables don't lock into place, I am getting a much firmer connection. Since this rig is for a business server that can be swapped out with another server in case of hardware failure (which is why I moved the hard drives to the outside of the case), everything has to be just right.... because as we all know... Murphy loves computers (part of "Murphy's Law").

this was my first eSATA purchase. I had read reviews of many brands, some which are too stiff and unplug from computer port. I had read other reviews of other tripp lite cables and took a chance on the eSATA cable. It is a great cable! Well worth the money. It stays in the port just fine, and there were no problems getting it to work. ( I connected it to my external hard drive, a Western Digital My Book Home Edition). If your looking for a good eSATA cable, get this one. Its 36" long, enough to go from PC to desk beside monitor.