Can I use Esata with normal SATA HDD?

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dontknownotsure

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Jan 4, 2011
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Hi, can I use an Esata -> SATA cable directly with normal 3.5 in. sata drive? does it need external power?

also can I mod a normal sata connector to make it fit Esata?

Plz answer before I do something dumb. :pt1cable:
 
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W
Yes the drive will still need powering. No you cant connect it directly like that. The cables that attach to ESATA are not the same as internal SATA ports. There may be an exception but I cant recall seeing one. You can get a converter with a back plate so you attach an internal SATA port and route to an external port. The HDD will need to be in an ESATA capable enclosure to provide power however.
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Yes the drive will still need powering. No you cant connect it directly like that. The cables that attach to ESATA are not the same as internal SATA ports. There may be an exception but I cant recall seeing one. You can get a converter with a back plate so you attach an internal SATA port and route to an external port. The HDD will need to be in an ESATA capable enclosure to provide power however.
 
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Solution



I purchased a 4 port sata card that gave me an external connector and then got a for port multilane sata cable and an external box to put drives in. Works great. If you want some options, try addonics.com..... They have lots of cool toys.
 
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do as wamphryi said. He is right. :sol: :sol: :sol:
 
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Oh thankyou you've saved my motherboard! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
 
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Actually, the answer is NO. While those SATA to eSATA brackets are common (Asus even shipped one with my motherboard), they are out of spec. eSATA and SATA have different voltage ranges. If you put the external drive in a true eSATA housing, then you are running signals between two ports that are technically incompatible. The voltage ranges of the two specs overlap, so it will work some or most of the time, but the risk of failure is pretty high.

If you run the cable to the drive directly, then you are running SATA to SATA, and the only spec that you are violating is having the SATA cable run out of the case.

Either way, it is out-of-spec and thus carries risk.
 
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actually I'm perplexed, my CM960 II case come with front panel esata, at the other end of the connection its a normal sata plug. Didnt it supposed to go in to standard sata port?
 
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Yes, Hot Swapping is one issue, but there are more, at least one of which is important. The general issue is that eSATA adds to "regular" SATA some capabilities and matching requirements. I don't know them all. Hot Swap support is one. Longer cables (to reach out of the case to an external enclosure) is another, and that requires using higher voltages for the signals on the cables. That is what WyomingKnott is talking about.

Now comes the tricky part. You can buy (you may get free with something) an adapter plate that plugs into a mobo "regular" SATA port and provides an eSATA connector on the outside of your case. It does NOTHING to convert any signals - it just allows you to plug in an eSATA cable. Now, many mobo makers have done non-standard things with their SATA controller chips and added to them some or all of the capabilities of true eSATA ports. (It appears "regular" SATA devices mounted internally are quite OK with dealing with eSATA signals.) So IF your mobo has these eSATA features already included in the standard mobo SATA port, a simple adapter plate is just fine. If your SATA ports do NOT include support for Hot Swapping but you NEVER try to do that, you can get away with it. If your SATA ports do NOT include the higher voltage signals, you MIGHT get it to work most of the time, but have failures at odd moments - OR you might find it fails all the time. The real problem is you never know! It is almost impossible to find out if your mobo's SATA ports have some or all of the eSATA features added on. And if it works when you try, it MIGHT fail later, depending on whether or not those features are there (but undisclosed) or not there.

Bottom line: sometimes you can use an adapter plate with a "regular" SATA mobo port to get an eSATA port, but there is always a risk that may not show up right away.

IF you have a true eSATA port on your machine, you can connect a "regular" SATA drive to it - there are no special eSATA drives. HOWEVER, eSATA ports do NOT normally contain any power supply. Some mobo makers have actually created non-standard eSATA ports that do include power and can be used for eSATA devices that are designed for such ports. In the original eSATA design, however, the external device must have its own power supply. For example, I have a "standard" 500 GB SATA HDD mounted in an enclosure from AZIO that has its own power supply. The cable connecting it to the computer is an eSATA one that plugs into a true eSATA port provided by a dedicated chip on my mobo. I am not using an adapter plate.
 
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Thanks
I current have one of those :) this is the one Ive been using. http://www.novac.co.jp/products/hardware/nv-hd/nv-sr301/index.html
but I need to transfer files between drives.

Maybe I'll just use it open case until I get another SATA docking bay.

btw what do you think about this? http://www.century.co.jp/products/pc/hdd-kit/cwrs5-bk2.html
 
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Hi all,

Just my 'six pence' about the question (to give you a more specific idea about the backgrounds. Maybe it's helpful for other people coming to read this later... I've seen it's marked 'solved').

As far as I've seen from the actual SATA and eSATA specs, the *only* differences in the interface are slightly extended signal voltage ranges (*only* to the low side, *not* to high) to compensate for some voltage drop and interference due to the 2m cable length allowed (on internal SATA it would be only 1 metre) and, if *real* eSATA specs are applied, some extensions to the protocol and command set. In my experience it is absolutely no problem to operate any SATA drive on an eSATA cable which I would take for sure as long as you stick to a maximum total cable length of 1 metre (that would be the internal cable from the MoBo to the eSATA bracket *plus* the eSATA cable <= 1m). On anything longer than that - well - it may or may not work properly...

Voltage levels:

SATA transmit = 400 mV to 600 mV eSATA transmit = 500 mV to 600 mV
SATA receive = 325 mV to 600 mV eSATA receive = 240 mV to 600 mV
As you can see the maximum allowed signal voltage is fixed to 600 mV on both specifications.

Of course, as said by others already, you shall need a power supply for the externally connected disk drive.
Hope this helps to clarify the technical backgrounds a little bit...

Best regards
Andy in Kenya
 
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gokanis,
please can you tell me something more about your configuration ?

thanks
 
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