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The Upgrade In Hard Drive Technology Sata To Esata (John B. Emmerson III)

Feb 28, 2010

External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment or eSATA is an external interface for SATA technologies. It competes with FireWire 400 and universal serial bus (USB) 2.0 to deliver speedy data transfer speeds for external storage devices.

SATA replaced ATA technology as the next generation internal bus interface for hard disk drives. The SATA interface is more faster than ATA and gives serial mode for bigger speed than the previous parallel technology. SATA cables are narrow and can be up to three feet (1 meter) in length, where parallel cables are much wider and limited to a length of 18 inches (45.7 cm). With eSATA, the speed of SATA expands to include exterior storage solutions.

As eSATA gives transfer rates triple those of USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, it does have one shortcoming. eSATA requires its own power connector, unlike the aforementioned interfaces. However, it is an great choice for external disk storage. Unlike USB and FireWire interfaces, eSATA does not have to translate data between the interface and the computer. This improves data transfer speeds, while saving computer cpu resources and removing the require for an extra off-load chip.

For desktop motherboards without having an eSata connector, a peripheral part interconnect (PCI) card can be bought and installed in an available PCI slot that will provide an eSATA interface. Notebooks can utilize an external eSATA device made for the PCMCIA, PC Card or ExpressCard slot, based on the laptop model. eSATA allows use of fast SATA drives for external disk arrays, not only enhancinging important storage real estate, but also allowing really fast portable storage. eSATA's hot-swappable feature allows carrying disks from working place to home, or from one computer to another, a snap. Administrators, IT techs, advertising and marketing executives, and even gamers will find this valuable.

SATA has various kinds, with previous hardware supporting the primary standard exclusively. With each new SATA iteration, speed increases. Original SATA, SATA150, SATA300 has a data transfer speed of 150 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 300 megabytes/second consecutively. SATA II or SATA/3Gbs doubled the speed to 300 MB/s or about 3 GB/s. This is also sometimes referred to as SATA300. Some sources report SATA 600 has been available by 2007.
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