SATAII express card/external hd question

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keam02


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Does anyone have any experience with using a SATA card with an external HD on their MBP? I need external storage and I'd much prefer to not use USB or Firewire, but rather SATA. I've been looking at this particular card here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839200006

Is this viable? Forgive me, I'm completely inexperienced with external HDs. I just know a sata connection is much faster than usb or firewire.
 
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mjriley


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Do macbook pros even have an external sata port for connection of an external sata drive????
 
chscag

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keam02 said:
Does anyone have any experience with using a SATA card with an external HD on their MBP? I need external storage and I'd much prefer to not use USB or Firewire, but rather SATA. I've been looking at this particular card here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839200006

Is this viable? Forgive me, I'm completely inexperienced with external HDs. I just know a sata connection is much faster than usb or firewire.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's viable with the above bus card inserted into your MBP. However, I believe that an external Firewire drive may be just as fast and would certainly be a much easier way than using an external SATA which will no doubt cost more. (Add to that cost the $39.99 plus SH you'll have to pay for the bus card.)

Have you done some homework on this by comparing speeds of various types of drives? Take a look at the latest Firewire and even USB drives and compare them with an external SATA. (The limiting factor for access speeds for externals has more to do with the bus speed than anything else.) You might find that a Firewire 800 external drive to be the best choice.

Regards.
 
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keam02


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chscag said:
I suppose it's viable with the above bus card inserted into your MBP. However, I believe that an external Firewire drive may be just as fast and would certainly be a much easier way than using an external SATA which will no doubt cost more. (Add to that cost the $39.99 plus SH you'll have to pay for the bus card.)

Have you done some homework on this by comparing speeds of various types of drives? Take a look at the latest Firewire and even USB drives and compare them with an external SATA. (The limiting factor for access speeds for externals has more to do with the bus speed than anything else.) You might find that a Firewire 800 external drive to be the best choice.

Regards.
Click to expand...


My MBP only has Firewire 400, which, from what I've read, is a ton slower than SATA with HDs. I guess newer MBPs have 800. I got this one back around two years ago.
 
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I purchased a APIOTEK EXTREME Dual eSATAII Express Card 34 from macsales.com for my MBP 2Ghz-2GB-256MB ATI. This is an incredible speed boost for the MBP. From one eSATA drive to antoher it transfered 13GB in under 10 minutes.

The 7200rpm 3.5" drive is faster then internal (mine is a toshiba 5400rpm drive). The eSATA drive runs at the full speed on the SATA bus leaving firewire 400 (or 800) and USB 2.0 far behind, because there is no transfer protocal.

I also set-up a RAID 1 with 2 drives in a Disk Utility with an AMS Venus T4S 4 bay enclosure. This case has a built in port multiplier and the Apiotek card supports multipliers.
 
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keam02,

eSATA is faster, but I use USB on my Macbook and backup never takes more than 5 minutes... Just use USB or Firewire and go have a cup of coffee while it's backing up. Slower? Yes, but I have to agree with chscag - certainly less expensive than an eSATA card...

Noel
 

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