A standard SATA cable, per specification, can run up to 1m (3.3ft) of length without signal losses.
An eSATA cable can, per specification, run up to 2m (6.6ft) of length without signal losses.
1m for SATA I, 2m for SATA II
Sata drive
The current maximum length for a serial cable is around 50 meters. Different cables have length limits with the maximum varying.
The maximum length of a 1000ft Cat6 cable for networking is 328 feet.
No disadvantage one disadvantage is that you can't use it in an IDE only box. --- Sata drives can be used in an IDE only computer using a cheap sata to IDE reversible interface. IDE<>SATA SATA<>IDE Another disadvantage is that serial devices driven at high speed can be subject to interferrance if the cable length is too long. This is not unique to SATA (IDE suffers from this too) But until an alternative system such as Fibre optics cable is introduced it will limit lead length. ---
Check the motherboard. You can connect two drives to a single parallel cable. Most traditional motherboards have two IDE sockets and you can run a maximum of four drives. (one cable per socket, two drives per cable) but you need to configure the drives with jumpers as "primary" and "slave". Many of the newer motherboards have a "SATA" (Serial ATA) socket or some combination of SATA and IDE but you'd have to use a SATA drive with a SATA cable to use the SATA socket.
The maximum length of a Cat3 Ethernet cable that can be used for networking purposes is 100 meters.
100
1480 METERS
You cant connect two devices to the same sata cable.
The maximum length of a 1000 ft Ethernet cable for network connections is 328 feet.
The maximum length of a cat 5 e cable with out a repeater is 100meters