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    eSATA ExpressCard performance

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by PantsOnFire, Feb 23, 2010.

  1. PantsOnFire

    PantsOnFire Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'd like to hear users performance experience with these cards? I'm interested because I've ordered a gaming rig (Asus g73jh) as a desktop replacement for video editing and some gaming. The laptop is a steal when you consider the specs. Unfortunately I had a huge brain burp and completely forgot about making sure it had an eSATA port. From my research it appears the express card is my only option to add eSATA to the laptop. So, anyway, if you use an express card please post your transfer stats to and from an external drive. Thanks and peace.
     
    PantsOnFire, Feb 23, 2010
    #1
  2. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    If i am correct , expresscard bandwidth is 4.5GB/s while e-SATA is 3.0GB/s... so there should be no problem... USB 3.0 will be since it is 5.0GB/s...
     
    sean473, Feb 23, 2010
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  3. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    EC is a PCIe-x1 connection, meaning 2.5Gbps (250MB/s). USB 3.0 is going to be 5Gbps (or 500MB/s).
     
    Greg, Feb 23, 2010
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  4. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    anyways , it wouldn't matter with e-SATA as no e-SATA hard drive can reach those speeds...
     
    sean473, Feb 23, 2010
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  5. PantsOnFire

    PantsOnFire Notebook Enthusiast

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    The reviews of some of the EC's on amazon are mixed. Some say don't waste your money or that they are slow so I'm hoping someone will post their transfer speeds here.
     
    PantsOnFire, Feb 23, 2010
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  6. Dillio187

    Dillio187 Notebook Evangelist

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    I have several of the Vantec esata cards sold at Newegg in use at my company. They work quite well and I can tell no difference when benching a WD Black drive internally on a laptop or externally through the esata card.
     
    Dillio187, Feb 23, 2010
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  7. ygohome

    ygohome Notebook Deity

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    I use a Sonnet Tempo Pro ExpressCard/34 eSATA in my macbook pro. I'm getting 120+ MB/s read/writes with my 2TB caviar black.

    my Sonnet Tempo "pro" is a very pricey expressCard but it is the only one that avoids kernal panics (thats the BSOD for the Macs) with Apple's Snow Leopard OS X. I am very happy with the card's reliability and performance

    There are many other expressCards available that are MUCH less money than the Sonnet Tempo Pro that you could try. Sonnet makes less expensive non-pro that uses a different chipset. Hopefully some more people will post up their experiences with other cards.

    If you don't have a built in eSATA port and you want to use an external drive with a fast connection speed then you don't really have much of a choice than going with an expressCard.
     
    ygohome, Feb 23, 2010
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  8. Judicator

    Judicator Judged and found wanting.

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    It's also worth making sure that the particular Expresscard you get utilizes the PCIe bus instead of the USB one. That's depending on the particular model Expresscard.
     
    Judicator, Feb 24, 2010
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  9. PantsOnFire

    PantsOnFire Notebook Enthusiast

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    Glad to hear there is no difference between the internal\external drive transfers. Love Newegg. Thanks for the reco.

    Yeah no built in eSATA so I'll go with the EC. I'll take a look at the Sonnet. Thanks.

    Noted and thanks!
     
    PantsOnFire, Feb 24, 2010
    #9