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eSata / usb 3.0

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  • 31-03-2014 11:49am
    #1
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭


    Quick question here. I have an eSata port on my laptop which I never use and I belive it's actually one of the USB eSata combo ports (I must check that this evening). Anyway the point is I've seen a a few mentions of USB 3.0 being compatible with eSata. Does anyone know if this is true or would the eSata port not return the speed increase offered by USB 3.0?
    Thanks.


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    #2
    ressem
    Registered Users Posts: 2,426 ✭✭✭ressem


    They aren't compatible. The hybrid port on your laptop has one set of contacts that a USB connector will connect to and a different set of contacts that an eSATA connector will connect to.

    A USB 2 device connector has 4 connectors that you can see if you look closely. A USB 3 has this 4 + another 5 way back inside the plug for the superspeed connections.
    eSata has a completely separate 7 pins.


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    #3
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    ressem wrote: »
    They aren't compatible. The hybrid port on your laptop has one set of contacts that a USB connector will connect to and a different set of contacts that an eSATA connector will connect to.

    A USB 2 device connector has 4 connectors that you can see if you look closely. A USB 3 has this 4 + another 5 way back inside the plug for the superspeed connections.
    eSata has a completely separate 7 pins.

    Thanks for the info. Out of curiousity were eSata hard drives ever popular? I can't ever remember anyone saying they used one


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    #4
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,220 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#eSATA
    Aimed at the consumer market, eSATA enters an external storage market served also by the USB and FireWire interfaces. The SATA interface has certain advantages. Most external hard-disk-drive cases with FireWire or USB interfaces use either PATA or SATA drives and "bridges" to translate between the drives' interfaces and the enclosures' external ports; this bridging incurs some inefficiency. Some single disks can transfer 157 MB/s during real use,[9] about four times the maximum transfer rate of USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) and almost twice as fast as the maximum transfer rate of FireWire 800.

    Your port may look like it takes USB as well, but it prob don't. I have a DELL E6400 that has an eSata port.

    Don't know about popularity, a mate had an external drive that had a socket for it.


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    #5
    ressem
    Registered Users Posts: 2,426 ✭✭✭ressem


    mordeith wrote: »
    Thanks for the info. Out of curiousity were eSata hard drives ever popular? I can't ever remember anyone saying they used one

    They definitely had big advantages for professionals doing heavy work compared to the half-duplex, high CPU USB2. But wasn't available on most laptops.


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    #6
    game4it70
    Registered Users Posts: 2,125 ✭✭✭game4it70


    I've an external drive that has usb2 and a e-sata ports.Transferring with e-sata is alot faster.


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    #7
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    bonzodog2 wrote: »
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#eSATA


    Your port may look like it takes USB as well, but it prob don't. I have a DELL E6400 that has an eSata port.

    Don't know about popularity, a mate had an external drive that had a socket for it.

    It picks up my USB mouse grand anyway. Must try it on an external hard drive. At worst I've disocvered an extra port for my mouse on the other side of the laptop :) I''d been operating on 2 standard ones up to know.


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