Anybody using a Sata External? How does it compare to Internal and USB2 and Firewire, if all of them run @7200?Thanks.Abe

Abe from an article on :http://compreviews.about.com/od/storage/a/eSATA.htm by Mark KyminSpeed Differences:One of the key advantages that eSATA offers over USB and FireWire is speed. While the other two have overhead from converting the signal between the external interface and the internal IDE based drives, SATA does not have this problem. Because SATA is the standard interface used on many new hard drives, a simple converter between the internal and external connectors is required in the housing. This means that the external device should run at the same speed as an Internal SATA drive. So, here are the speeds for the various interfaces: USB 1.1

Hello,I have just installed a 400 Gb eSATA (FreeCOM Drive Pro)with external power supply so no impact on PSU.I had difficulties to use it because I had NO RAID controller drive installed. The documentation is not clear.I did not want RAID but if you want eSATA I had to install the RAID driver .....Performance (in my case 1.5 as my MB does NOT allow 3.0) is there.Just installed vista on it using a Dual Boot.Seams a good choice.... crossing my fingers.

Peter,Thanks very much for the specs - very useful to know.Emile,I am not clear on the installation of the "RAID driver". Are you saying that you had to install the Raid driver and use it in order to be able to access the drive? Is that because of the limitation of your MB or a MUST with any MB? Would appreciate an answer. I have 6 SATA slots and all are occupied with 4 drives and 2 Sata burners. I do have 2 addtional Sata inputs.....external, hence the question.Thanks again, gentlemen.Abe

Hello,Some explanations : I already have 2 IDE drives in my "box" + cd R:W + DVD R/W in other words no space any more in the box.So I decided to try eSATA (external SATA), on my MB there are 2 connectors for SATA II.So I installed a little interface (I do not know how the call it) linking my internal SATA connectors to the ousite world. So I had an external connector for SATA. Great I am ready (I think) I connected the Freecom .... boot... no conntection !! the BIOS was updated to allow the SATA ... BUll S....!I found in Device Manager a yellow question mark in front of the RAID interface... I do not care I do not need RAID!! I have only 1 drive.After several searches on the net, I decided to install the necessary RAID driver and .... it works ... Of course at boot time the BIOS says he does NOT find the secondary SATA ... but ...I do not care.Abe I can only explain what I have done "Is that because of the limitation of your MB or a MUST with any MB? "I cannot answer. Some Guru must have the answer.Hope it helps.Have a nice day

Thanks again Emile.I'll probably get an External Sata, if it does not work I can always take it back.Abe