Storage Solutions eSATA question

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devi691

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hi guyz,
these days i was using sata to usb cables for connecting my 3.5" Sata HDDs.It is Plug n play but we need to give power supply by external adeptor.
does eSATA pci cards will work the same way means plug n play with high speed transfer ?is it a good alternative for my current usb sata cable ?
eSATA ports are differ from normal sata ports or we have to purchase any specific esata transfer cable?
pci to sata cards are avaible on ebay in 400 bucks ,is it worth?
please clear these doubts.
 
  • eSATA is physically different than SATA and meant for external hard drive setups.
  • eSATA is definitely faster than USB (2-4 times practically, 480Mbps vs 3Gbps technically)
  • SATA and eSATA have same type of wirings and speed, but the connectors only are different

devi691 said:
does eSATA pci cards will work the same way means plug n play with high speed transfer ?
Click to expand...

eSATA is plug n play but I think SATA is not.

devi691 said:
is it a good alternative for my current usb sata cable ?
Click to expand...

Yes. SATA/eSATA is better than USB-to-SATA

devi691 said:
eSATA ports are differ from normal sata ports or we have to purchase any specific esata transfer cable?
Click to expand...

eSATA and SATA are different and you need eSATA casing+cable for connecting your internal harddisk to an eSATA port. And above that u need a PCI eSATA/SATA card if your motherboard doesn't have eSATA

devi691 said:
pci to sata cards are avaible on ebay in 400 bucks ,is it worth?
Click to expand...

Yes.

In your case,

  • If you don't need portability, connect the hard disk inside your CPU with motherboard SATA / PCI SATA
  • If you need portability
    • One option is take a SATA cable from mb SATA/PCI SATA to outside of the cabinet and connect it to your hard disk. But might face plug n play issues.
    • Another expensive option is eSATA 3.5" casing for your hard disk + eSATA cable + PCI eSATA card. Full plug n play setup.
 
I am using one e-sata casing from transjet and one e-sata dock from Vantec.

Both require external power supplies.

The transcjet casing does not come with SATA - eSATA cable or convertor, so its practically useless, unless you get that connector from somewhere.

While the Vantec dock comes with such connector.

Now if you need more hdds to be changed then the Dock is extremely usefull. If only one HDD is needed then go for casing.

I got both from here TE dealers only.

Ask mediahome for casing and KMD for dock.

Hope it helped.
 
Actually i need a solution for my 5 internal 3.5" sata HDDs to plug n play.I have to change these all the time ,specially for backups. So i was looking a better option then Sata~Usb.
Can u plz suggest me any one?And if that is the only solution then for which brand i should go ? Cheap n Best :)
 
By default SATA supports hotswap if your motherboard/PCI card also supports (Most do support by default). So if you take good care of connecting the SATA power (switch on power after connecting the plug), a simple SATA cable taken outside the cabinet from your motherboard / SATA card should be the cheap & best setup for you.
 
^ What version Windows are you using? I've tried eSATA on my bro's Vista laptop eSATA port and it works plug-n-play. eSATA should be plug-n-play, otherwise how do they stand against all the USB/Firewire when it comes to external hard drives? :D

Wikipedia says even SATA is plug n play provide your motherboard supports it. Please check whether both your mobo and OS supports plug n play.
 
^..Windows is not to be blamed here... Its called AHCI support... Unless your southbridge SATA controller supports AHCI you cannot simply use Hot Plug & Play..

Ironically Intel in all its stupidity decided that AHCI support will only be available in its RAID supported chipset & Mobile chipset (Read southbridge). So if you are on a desktop chipset which does not ends with "R".. (viz ICH6, ICH7, ICH8, ICH9, ICH10 & likes) then you do not have AHCI support & you cannot use hot swapping through an eSATA bracket...

@Spectre.... IP35-E has ICH9... So you do not have RAID.... So no hot swapping... :(
 
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