FORTASA BLOG

SATA Interface Standard Connectors

Many embedded motherboards have integrated a smaller 7-pin female SATA connector over the much more common 22-pin connector. The 22-pin connector, long a standard for HDD or SSD interface in PC motherboards, is actually quite sizable.

While the connector size oftentimes is not important in a high functionality desktop PC, for single board computers with dedicated specific task application, everything, including the SSD connector needs to be miniaturized.  The embedded industry quickly converted the motherboard design to a 7-pin SATA connector variant. Given that the Flash Memory Modules can be manufactured in a very small physical sizes, the memory modules also sized down near the size of the new connector.

It is also worthwhile to mention that the standard 7-pin SATA connector only contains active signals and requires a separate Power Supply dongle to connect to the power rails. Fortasa Memory Systems, Inc developed an innovative 7-pin connector and respective memory module that doesn't require a separate power connection. Instead, the power signals are passed to the module through connector attachment clips. The system mother board needs to be specifically modified to route the power signals to the Fortasa connector, but with this modification, the system will no longer require a separate power cable. Fortasa offers multiple SATA Module designs with four different 7-pin connector locations.

Please contact Fortasa to discuss your solid state product requirements.