Discussion on:

Get a performance boost with Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

I am glad the author makes this point about the connectors being identical. I like to think of myself as a pretty up on technology and the fact that I couldn't plug something in was always a life saver.
I think this is the first time I have seen this... incompatible technology using the same connector.
Why!?! Save a few cents on production costs?
I imagine the specification has already been settled, but if it hasn't ... please change it!

scsi cables were always ridiculously expensive. sata cables are not. being serial, they probably will not fry the sas disk if hooked up to the sata controller.

so it boils down to a confusion / not checking specs thing vs frying the drive by hooking up wrong cable.

I don't however like the accronym. They obviously didn't check with ACCRUAN (the American Committee to Reduce the Use of AcroNyms) before deciding on this abbreviation. SAS is also a company name (sas institute) and a software product (their stats package).

Actually, in this case, identical connectors are good. Both SATA and SAS hosts can use drives from either family. So, you won't fry your disks connecting them to the wrong port. Yeah, you will have to watch what you connect, but in the data center, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Scott