Confusing. True eSATA vs. faluse eSATA external enclosures.

[fishquail]

This is really annoying.

eSATA external drive enclosures are relativly new. And some manufactuers are selling eSATA enclosures which advertise as having "eSATA" interfaces when in fact they have regular "L-shaped" SATA inteface on the device itself. Aparently there is no one enforcing any rules here.

Ive already bought one that had the wrong interface and sent it back. (it had L-shaped) Where can I find one that has a True eSATA conector on the external enclosure?

 

[Hando567]

ummm dude i dotn know if you realized but the eSATA connector on the HDD itself IS the standard L-shaped connector as you described it while only the port on the board is different.

 

[paybax]

Hando is right bro...........the one that plugs into the drive is the standard "L" shaped one, and the OTHER end of the cable that goes into the COMP is the one that is the "dedicated" true eSATA plug.

If you think about it..... if it had the dedicated "eSATA" plugs on both ends, you wouldn't be able to hook it up to your standard SATA hdd right ?? :idea:

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[fishquail]

No, youve both got to be wrong. i think...

Isnt the correct chain suposed to be like this:

SATA Hard drive with "L-shaped" on drive itself.
> from drive conceted to external enclosure with "straight" shaped on outside of enclosure >
> from enclosure down cable to eSATA Bracket with "straight" shaped >
> from bracket cable goes to motherboard with L-shaped SATA.

 

[kamel5547]

http://www.lindy.com/int/tips/int/eSATA_Connectors/index.php

Heres a synopsis:

eSATA was not defined until SATA II was introduced. Cards/drives have both connectors now but should in the future move to using solely the eSATA connector.
---------------------------

Not to say that it means much. A regular SATA and an eSATA connector should provide the same theoretical speeds, so in the end it doesn't matter much whether your enclosure has one conenction or the other as long as it works.
--------------------------
Also here explaining in more detail the reason for eSATA (mostly to ensure EMI shielding on the cables).

http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp

 

[MplsBob]

This is a really interesting question. I hope others contribute as well.

My understanding, without much to base it upon, was that the eSATA cable's sole advantage was that it provided vastly superior signal shielding which is an advantage in itself, and greater cable length.

I had assumed this meant that an eSATA cable had eSATA connectors at both ends of the cable and was intended solely for connecting an external device's eSATA connector to a eSATAconnector on the back of the PC. (Note the device inside the external device would be a SATA or whatever, since signal conversions are not very difficult).

Again, without much to base it upon, I had assumed that the conversion to eSATA from SATA was more of a wiring change than of anything more sophisticated.

Edit:
kamel5547 (above) appears to have dealt with this far better than I.

 

[MplsBob]

[sorry for the dupe)

 

[Hando567]

all i know is that the eSATA cables that came with my DQ6 have the new connector on the MOBO side and the standard on the other. i assume this is standard as ive never seen a cable with the new connector on both sides and i have seen many in stores and made by diff brands with the new connector on one and the old L on the other.

 

[rwpritchett]

all i know is that the eSATA cables that came with my DQ6 have the new connector on the MOBO side and the standard on the other. i assume this is standard as ive never seen a cable with the new connector on both sides and i have seen many in stores and made by diff brands with the new connector on one and the old L on the other.

There are L-L cables, I-L cables, and I-I cables available.

Check this out:

http://www.satacables.com/html/sata_external_cables.html

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The in-spec way to do eSATA is as follows:

- Controller with eSATA-spec voltages and signalling.
- eSATA port on back of controller card
- eSATA to eSATA cable ("I" connectors on both ends)
- External enclosure with eSATA ("I" connector port)

Two choices inside the enclosure:

- Permanently-mounted cable that connects the external eSATA ("I" connector) port to the internal hard drive, cable on the hard drive end is a SATA ("L" connector), hard drive must support eSATA voltage specs (Most SATA 3 Gb/sec drives).

OR

- Board with SATA buffer chip connected to eSATA ("I" connector) port, cable coming off the board that ends in SATA ("L" connector) to attach to internal hard drive, hard drive does not have to support eSATA voltage specifications.


ANYTHING ELSE is not compliant with eSATA spec.

 

[MplsBob]

SomeJoe7777: Do you have a link to that specification? I would like to read it.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Here is a white paper from Silicon Image on the eSATA specification:

https://www.sata-io.org/docs/External%20SATA%20WP%2011-09.pdf

Here's another brief on eSATA:

http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp

And a list of eSATA product manufacturers:

http://www.sata-io.org/productfeature.asp

 

[vanka]

I know exactly what you're looking for. I recently assembled my own external SATA hard drive and the enclosure I used came with both a eSATA (not the L-shaped one) and a USB port. It also comes with a bracket to route one of your internal SATA ports to an outside eSATA. It also comes with a cable that has eSATA connections on both ends, but I wouldn't call it a true eSATA cable as it appears to be a regular SATA cable with eSATA connections (no shielding). The enclosure itself is pretty nice aluminum body and no fan; the aluminum helps cool the hard drive. I have not tried hot swapping with the SATA and cannot remeber which version of the SATA spec it uses.

Check out the enclosure.