MRT USB to SATA probe board

[lcoughey]

I like the USB terminal and it's ability to read/write modified ROM.

I don't see any mention of needing to remove caps from the patient USB board, which is a nice win, if true.

[lcoughey]

A response from MRT about models and very resonable price.

Screenshot_20230731_210308_Skype.jpg (181.33 KiB) Viewed 9061 times

[fzabkar]

IIUC, the entire drive is powered through a pogo pin. I would prefer a more solid power connection. I guess this could easily be added, though.

I recall an earlier design where MRT mistakenly used a switch IC rather than a SATA redriver. This effectively made their adaptor little more than a placebo. I would be interested in analysing the chips in this latest design. It would be very embarrassing if MRT were to make the same mistake again.

[lcoughey]

IIUC, the entire drive is powered through a pogo pin. I would prefer a more solid power connection. I guess this could easily be added, though.

I recall an earlier design where MRT mistakenly used a switch IC rather than a SATA redriver. This effectively made their adaptor little more than a placebo. I would be interested in analysing the chips in this latest design. It would be very embarrassing if MRT were to make the same mistake again.

Up until now, I'm not so sure that they really care. They make no mention of the need to remove the 4 caps that we traditionally have to remove with the other similar style adapters already on the market. The implication is that this device is more advanced with a signal gain to compensate for it, but one would think that the caps should be mentioned. Here is the super clear response from tech support in regards to cap removal.

Call me fussy, but shouldn't the "testing" and "documentation" be done in advance by the manufacturer prior to final release? As usual, the customer pays to be the beta tester.
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cap-removal-mrt.png (14.13 KiB) Viewed 9055 times

[fzabkar]

Some info and photos here:

https://info.mrtlab.com/notice/334.html
https://info.mrtlab.com/uploadfile/2023 ... 133741.png
https://info.mrtlab.com/uploadfile/2023 ... 544569.png
https://info.mrtlab.com/uploadfile/2023 ... 388981.png

The SATA redriver looks similar to this:

SN75LVPE802RTJR, Texas Instruments, Two-Channel 8 Gbps SATA Express Equalizer and Redriver, marking LVP802, QFN20:
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn75lvpe802.pdf

The TTL-USB bridge is a CP2102.

CP2102, Slicon Labs, USB to UART bridge:
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public ... 2102-9.pdf

I don't understand what U7 does.

There is a pushbutton switch (SW). I wonder if it shorts the read channel?

Edit: Yes, it does.

Convenient and independent TV9-TV10 circuit shorting button

I think U6 may be a 4-bit level translator for the UART Tx/Rx pins plus two others (?).

TXB0104QRGYRQ1, Texas Instruments, Automotive 4-bit bidirectional voltage-level translator with auto direction sensing and +/-15kV ESD, marking YE04Q1, RGY-14:
https://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/txb0104-q1

U11 would be an EEPROM for the CP2102 bridge - No, this wrong. U11 is a 10-pin IC.

[lcoughey]

That is a pretty detailed breakdown without having physical access to the board. Thanks for posting.

[fzabkar]

The mystery chip appears to be a W806 MCU from Winner Micro.

https://www.winnermicro.com/html/1/156/248/571.html

http://ask.winnermicro.com/article/3.html
https://www.winnermicro.com/upload/1/ed ... 221172.pdf
https://www.winnermicro.com/upload/1/ed ... 179704.pdf
https://www.winnermicro.com/upload/1/ed ... 116918.pdf