What is eSATA?

SATA changed the legacy of ATA technology as the subsequent generation internal bus interface for hard disks. The interface of SATA is more updated than ATA and gives serial architecture for faster speed than the older similar technology. SATA wires are narrow and could be up to 3 feet or 1 meter in length, while parallel wires are much limited and wider to a length of eighteen inches or 45.7 cm. With External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, the SATA speed extends to encompass outer storage solutions.

While eSATA attains transfer rates thrice those of FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, it have 1 drawback. eSATA needs its power connector, not like the aforesaid interfaces. On the other hand, it is an excellent option for external storage. Not like FireWire and USB interfaces, eSATA doesn’t have to interpret data between the computer and the interface. This improves the speeds of data transfer, while saving PC processor resources and removing the need for an off-load chip.

For motherboards that do not have an eSATA cable, a PCI or Peripheral Component Interconnect card could be bought and mounted in an available Peripheral Component Interconnect slot that will give an eSATA interface. Laptops can utilize an external eSATA device created for the PC Card, PCMCIA, or ExpressCard slot, depending on the notebook model. eSATA allows use of high-speed SATA drives for outer disk arrays, not only extending valuable storage estate, but enabling fast handy storage as well. eSATA's swappable feature makes getting disks from home to work, or from one PC to another. Administrators, marketing and advertising executives, IT techs, and gamers will find this so beneficial.

SATA has reverse standards, w/ older hardware helping the standard exclusively. With new SATA iteration, speed raises. Original SATA/150, or SATA, has a speed of data transfer of 150 MB/s or Megabytes per Second. SATA/3Gbs or SATA II doubled the speed of 300 MB/s to 3 GB/s. This is sometimes referred to as SATA/300 as well. Some resources report that SATA/600 will be out in the market by 2007.

When buying a bus card or an eSATA controller, make sure it assists the SATA standard needed by your hard disk(s). Hardware that assists newer standards is normally backwards compatible w/ older devices, but the reverse doesn’t hold. An eSATA controller created for SATA/150, for instance, will not be capable to bear the faster speeds of a SATA/300 hard disk.