Vantec eSATA /USB2 SATA HDD case

E

Eazy

Skilled
I picked up today a Vantec eSATA case for SATA HDDs. Its very good. This case connects to SATA II ports on a Mother Boards via a cable and back bracket. Or you can use this case as a regular USB2 external case.

The file transfer speeds I got with a Maxtor DM9 SATA1 160GB HDD are... I used a 3 GB file for checking transfer speeds.....

HDD inside computer case - 45MB/s
HDD with eSATA setup in external case - 45 MB/s
HDD connected via USB2 port - 36MB/s

This case is very well built and has a black mirror finish.

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I got it from Nilesh of APEX located at Lamington Road Mumbai for 3450/-. It is very pricey but I feel the quality and data transfer speeds of this case makes the price worth it for me.

I read in a review that this case can boot XP off a SATA HDD in the external case when it is connected as eSATA - have not tried that yet.
 
Cool. Also what cable is needed to connect the case from the backbraket to the case ?? I mean is the eSATA cable provided ??

Also it requires external power adapter ??

Good Buy :clap:
 
What is that bracket? Is it for eSATA? How is it different from just pulling a particularly long sata cable outside the cabinet?
 
@Josh ... it came with a flat eSATA cable for connection between back plate and external case - this eSATA connector looks a bit different from the regular SATA connectors. YUP comes with power adapter.

@zhopudey .... <<SHRUG>> dont have an answer to your question .... and yes the bracket is for connecting to the SATA connectors on Mother Board with an eSATA socket on the bracket for the external cable - but me thinks the eSATA connector holds the connection better than the flimsy regular SATA connector. Like I mentioned it looks a bit different. Is it possible that the eSATA cables has better protection from EMI from signals from other devices .... I wonder
 
shows pics of esata pls? first time me hearing this word.... its faster then normal sata cables or wot?

hmm.. where is apex enterprises located.. :S... ...

i have seen a c ouple of sata connectors out there.. but they doint come with any casing... ...
 
chic_magnet said:
shows pics of esata pls? first time me hearing this word.... its faster then normal sata cables or wot?
hmm.. where is apex enterprises located.. :S... ...
i have seen a c ouple of sata connectors out there.. but they doint come with any casing... ...
Click to expand...

Here is a picture of eSATA connector and external cable... look at the finish of the Vantec case below the cable :O ... its really nice. The case is supposedly made of Aluminum. Dunno if eSATA is faster - my guess maybe just better protected from EMI.

esataconnector2qh3.jpg
 
What is eSATA? eSATA is an extension to Serial ATA standards to enable SATA drives to be attached externally.

Before eSATA, external hard drives were connected via USB or FireWire. eSATA can provide data transfer rates significantly faster than USB or FireWire.

eSATA 1.5 offers data rates up to 150MBps. eSATA 3G doubles that to 300MBps.

eSATA cables can be up to 2 meters (approximately 6 feet) in length.

eSATA drives are hot-pluggable, meaning that you can attach or remove an eSATA hard drive from a system without powering down the system or the drive.

What is eSATA?
 
deejay said:
Does the price of Rs. 3450/- include the 160 gb HDD too.?:huh:
Click to expand...

THIS is exactly what I asked Nilesh :) ..... and I did mention to him this would be asked in TE :D ...... he would not even throw in a 20GB HDD. :(

Nilesh is very straight in his Pricing - hardly gives a reduction in price - and he gives the same price to all - no difference in price for anyone - real decent guy.
 
Nice case Eazy...I neeed a bigger drive for my Mac mini like a month ago...

So at first, I got an el-cheapo USB case first (700/-) along with a 250 GB PATA drive, but that gave me nothing but trouble, so I went out and got it replaced with a firewire (PATA) casing for 1800/- and that turned out to be defective...

Hazaar pained, I changed the HDD and casing for a SATA 250 GB and a USB SATA casing (1300/-) and that combo seems to be working fine (finally) but I don't think the transfer rates are going to be anywhere close to 45MB/s

Maybe I'll test that at home tonigh and post back
 
superczar said:
I don't think the transfer rates are going to be anywhere close to 45MB/s

Maybe I'll test that at home tonigh and post back
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that this transfer rate is achieved only when the HDD is running as an eSATA HDD. For this it is connected to a SATA connector on the Mother Board.

Came across some Benchies done by DriverHeaven with a 80GB Seagate drive, model ST380013AS in their review of this case here...
DriverHeaven.net: Vantec Nexstar 3
connected to USB2.......
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connected to the MoBo's SATA connector......
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connected to Vantec external case as eSATA.....
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Eazy said:
THIS is exactly what I asked Nilesh :) ..... and I did mention to him this would be asked in TE :D ...... he would not even throw in a 20GB HDD. :(
Nilesh is very straight in his Pricing - hardly gives a reduction in price - and he gives the same price to all - no difference in price for anyone - real decent guy.
Click to expand...
Great minds work alike....hehe:eek:hyeah:
 
Eazy said:
The file transfer speeds I got with a Maxtor DM9 SATA1 160GB HDD are... I used a 3 GB file for checking transfer speeds.....

HDD inside computer case - 45MB/s
HDD with eSATA setup in external case - 45 MB/s
HDD connected via USB2 port - 36MB/s
Click to expand...

Hi, Though the figures for the hdd on eSATA are good, mostly due to the way you have configured your system. I am surprised at the USB 2.0 figures.
USB 2.0 is said to have 480 mbps theoretical transfer rates, hence by that logic 480/8 = 60 MB/s - this is the theoretical value, the maximum values in tests is around 30MB/sec. I think 36MB/sec is very very good. once there are small files this will drop. Eazy, i think you really have got it down to an art to fine tune your drivers.

On an alternate note, i bought a box from Arihant on lamington road, one of thier, brands, called VIPower. The box is good, but not as good as the Vantech. Cost's around 3K. Personally for my next purchase i am waiting for the coolermaster esata box to come in, they have a USB hub also, so that allows cascading drives. you get esata connectivity, usb connectivity and USB host controller. Price as promised by my dealer is around 3K.
 
PCJedi said:
Hi, Though the figures for the hdd on eSATA are good, mostly due to the way you have configured your system. I am surprised at the USB 2.0 figures.
USB 2.0 is said to have 480 mbps theoretical transfer rates, hence by that logic 480/8 = 60 MB/s - this is the theoretical value, the maximum values in tests is around 30MB/sec. I think 36MB/sec is very very good. once there are small files this will drop. Eazy, i think you really have got it down to an art to fine tune your drivers.

On an alternate note, i bought a box from Arihant on lamington road, one of thier, brands, called VIPower. The box is good, but not as good as the Vantech. Cost's around 3K. Personally for my next purchase i am waiting for the coolermaster esata box to come in, they have a USB hub also, so that allows cascading drives. you get esata connectivity, usb connectivity and USB host controller. Price as promised by my dealer is around 3K.
Click to expand...

I find the USB2 on my ASUS A8N-E gives very good data transfer speeds. I dont use benchies for my speed checking but I have these 3.5GB backup image files which I copy onto the external drives. I use Total Commander for this file copying and this file manager gives the real time copy speeds.

I would have bought the external SATA case from Arihant too but I liked the look feel and finish of the Vantec. I dont regret this decision.

Cascading of drives with the Cooler Master !!! WOWEEE !! Now I will have to check that one out when it is available..... Nilesh of APEX mentioned that they may be getting the Cooler Master products - Nilesh was not yet 100% sure about it.

Today I connected up the Vantec case with a Maxtor 120GB DM9 SATA HDD which had XP installed on it and it booted fine. This is the first time I managed to run XP with full features off an external drive - the speed of the OS was good - programs opened fast enough. There was downer in this though - I was able to see in XP that the 120GB HDD which normally runs at 38C in my computers case was now at 51C !!! SCARY !!! THAT is high..... I dont think I want to run a HDD at that temperature !!! May have to MOD the Vantec case for cooling the HDD :( I wonder if all external cases have this heat problem - they proably do as very few have fans installed in the case.
 
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