Stripping Serial ATA cable from its shielding

Question

I'd like to add a second hard disk into my Acer notebook, but the only SATA cables I could get my hands on are too long (40 cm ~= 15"). I only need a cable of about 6 cm (2.5") long - the main problem is that I just can't pack the cable with its pink wrapping into free space in the hard disk bay, so I thought that I could strip the cable naked.

There are 2 pairs of thin wires in rubber insulation, then each pair is wrapped in aluminium foil, and this all is in thick pink rubber insulation. If I could strip away everything, the cable would fit. What I don't know is if the shielding is there for a reason, and SATA with its relatively high transfer rates simply wouldn't perform without it.

Answer 1

The shielding is there for a reason - well, two - EMI shielding and for the signal path; the latter is going to be the problem unless the fixing of the drive makes a good ground connection. It may be a 'try it and see' situation, but have a spare intact cable to hand just in case you need it.

You can definitiely get 4" SATA cables on ebay - I've just had a look with 'short sata'.