On at the moment the most common interface is . Although SATA can be found on sale, the interface is already considered obsolete, and they have already begun to arrive with.
Not to be confused with SATA 3.0 Gbit/s, in the second case we're talking about about the SATA 2 interface, which has a bandwidth of up to 3.0 Gbit/s (for SATA 3 throughput equal to up to 6 Gbit/s)
Interface- a device that transmits and converts signals from one piece of equipment to another.
Types of interface. PATA, SATA, SATA 2, SATA 3, etc.
Drives of various generations used the following interfaces: IDE (ATA), USB, Serial ATA (SATA), SATA 2, SATA 3, SCSI, SAS, CF, EIDE, FireWire, SDIO and Fiber Channel.
IDE (ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment)- parallel interface for connecting drives, which is why it was changed (with the output SATA) on PATA(Parallel ATA). Previously used to connect hard drives, but was supplanted by the SATA interface. Currently used to connect optical drives.
SATA (Serial ATA)— serial interface for data exchange with drives. An 8-pin connector is used for connection. As is the case with PATA– is obsolete and is used only for working with optical drives. The SATA standard (SATA150) provided a throughput of 150 MB/s (1.2 Gbit/s).
SATA 2 (SATA300). The SATA 2 standard doubled the throughput, up to 300 MB/s (2.4 Gbit/s), and allows operation at a frequency of 3 GHz. Standard SATA and SATA 2 are compatible with each other, however, for some models it is necessary to manually set the modes by rearranging the jumpers.
Although it is correct to say about the requirement of specifications SATA 6Gb/s. This standard doubled the data transfer speed to 6 Gbit/s (600 MB/s). Also among the positive innovations is the function program control NCQ and commands for continuous data transfer for a high priority process.
Although the interface was introduced in 2009, it is not yet particularly popular among manufacturers and is not often found in stores. In addition to hard drives, this standard is used in SSDs (solid-state drives).
It is worth noting that in practice the bandwidth of SATA interfaces does not differ in data transfer speed. In practice, the speed of writing and reading disks does not exceed 100 MB/s. Increasing the indicators only affects the throughput between the controller and the drive.
SCSI(Small Computer System Interface)— the standard is used in servers where increased data transfer speed is required.
SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)- the generation that replaced the SCSI standard, using serial data transmission. Like SCSI, it is used in workstations. Fully compatible with the SATA interface.
CF (Compact Flash)— Interface for connecting memory cards, as well as for 1.0 inch hard drives. There are 2 standards: Compact Flash Type I and Compact Flash Type II, the difference is in thickness.
FireWire– an alternative interface to the slower USB 2.0. Used to connect portable . Supports speeds up to 400 Mb/s, but the physical speed is lower than regular ones. When reading and writing, the maximum threshold is 40 MB/s.
eSATA interface and high-speed external case for desktop hard drives of any capacity
Capacious external drives and containers for 3.5-inch hard drives, as a rule, focused on the use of serial interfaces USB (1.1 and 2.0) and FireWire (IEEE 1394a, 1394b), which are traditionally convenient for these purposes, and for some time now network interfaces have been added to them ( Fast and Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wireless USB). Despite all the attractiveness of such solutions, their main drawback is the very mediocre interface speed, significantly lower than the capabilities of modern hard drives used in such devices (the exception, perhaps, is the still rare and expensive IEEE 1394b and Gigabit Ethernet - and then with a number of reservations). Another important drawback here is the need to use special interface converters - controllers that translate signals and protocols of one of the above external interfaces into “native” signals of IDE or Serial ATA disk interfaces. Not only do such controllers make a significant contribution to the cost of the external drives and containers themselves, but they are also an inevitable link in the delays in the operation of these devices, an additional point of equipment failures and failures.
eSATA (external Serial ATA) interface
At the same time, for some time now the problem of choosing an interface for an external drive or a container for hard drives has found a very nice and optimal solution: the introduction of the Serial ATA serial disk interface, initially focused on hot plugging of drives and an increased (compared to IDE) signal cable length, made it possible to create external drives and containers almost for nothing, simply by bringing the (internal) Serial ATA port outside the computer. This is exactly what some manufacturers did at first, until finally the eSATA standard (External Serial ATA, later formalized as part of the Serial ATA 2.5 specifications and design guides) was adopted, regulating the details external use Serial ATA interface.
eSATA was standardized in mid-2004 by defining cable design, connectors, and signaling requirements for external use of SATA drives. eSATA is characterized by:
- full speed SATA interface for external use of drives;
- lack of protocol conversion from IDE/SATA to USB/FireWire, that is, the availability of all disk functions, including S.M.A.R.T. for the host controller (and this is important!);
- signal cable length up to 2 meters (unfortunately, for USB/FW/Ethernet cables may be longer);
- low-voltage transmission of signals via cable (400-500 mV during transmission and 240-500 mV during reception), which reduces power requirements, reduces interference, and also satisfies the cable length increased to 2 m;
- Better than SATA cable static electricity (ESD) protection, reduced electromagnetic interference (EMI) of cable signals, meeting FCC and CE standards;
- better reliability and strength of the cable connection in the connector than SATA, designed for repeated switching.
It can be noted that the higher speed and lower latency of external drives with eSATA makes them more the right choice when working with digital video and HD content. Of course, eSATA makes full use of everything useful features Serial ATA interfaces such as Native Command Queuing (NCQ), Port Multiplier, Hot Plug and much more. eSATA opens up new horizons for the use of high-speed RAID arrays in consumer external drives, since previous interfaces significantly limited their speed, so that the original purpose of their creation was lost. eSATA is suitable for easily expanding disk capacity in server systems, since it can easily be connected to SATA II and SAS controllers.
A brief comparison of the main features of eSATA with other external disk interfaces is given in the following Table 1:
Table 1. Brief comparison of external and internal disk interfaces.
| Interface | eSATA | IEEE 1394a | IEEE 1394b | USB 2.0 | Ultra320 SCSI | UltraATA /133 | Serial ATA 1.5 Gb/s | Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data transfer rate, Mbit/s | up to 2400 | 400 | 786 | 480 | 2560 | 1064 | 1200 | 2400 |
| Real useful data transfer rate*, MB/s | up to ~260 | up to ~40 | up to ~65 | up to ~33 | up to ~230 | up to ~115 | up to ~135 | up to ~260 |
| Max. number of disks on one bus | 1 (up to 5 with port multiplier) | 63 | 63 | 127 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Max. signal cable length, m | 2 | 4.5 (expansion up to 16 cables - 72 m) | 5 | 16 | 0,46 | 1 | 1 | |
| Requires a separate power cable | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Number of lines in the cable | 7 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 68 | 80 | 7 | 7 |
*- according to the website
The shape and designs of the eSATA cable and connectors were specified as a shielded version of the SATA 1.0a connectors and a modified connector shape and a circular metal collar of the plug and socket: 
eSATA connectors.
There is no L-shaped connector key, and there is no vertical option for installing the connector. 
For ESD protection, the connector travel depth has been increased from 5 to 6.6 mm, and the contacts are additionally recessed inside. For better EMI protection, additional shielding of the cable (it is thicker than simple SATA) and connectors has been introduced. Mechanically, the connector is made more reliable and has a reinforced latch compared to SATA. It is designed for at least 5000 “plugs” (100 times more than for a SATA connector).
The signal requirements also underwent minor changes: if for a one-meter internal SATA cable the signal level tolerances ranged from 400 to 600 mV when transmitting and from 325 to 600 mV when receiving, then for a two-meter eSATA cable they were weakened to 400-500 mV when transmission and 240-500 mV when receiving. Requirements for the design of eSATA controller boards have also been added. 
This, in particular, may result in the fact that some early SATA chipsets and boards do not fully meet the eSATA signaling requirements, and may even require an eSATA buffer chip. And to connect eSATA ports to older motherboards, it is better to use an additional PCI host controller on a newer chipset. 
Examples of using eSATA in laptops.
Note also that early products (motherboards and PCI controllers) with regular (internal) SATA ports routed externally are not eSATA-compatible and cannot now be used in conjunction with eSATA solutions (without appropriate modifications). eSATA-compatible devices are marked with a special logo (in the figure above). The disadvantage of eSATA, which is very significant for applications in external drives, is the lack of power transmission lines from the host to the drive, as is the case in USB and FireWire. That is, eSATA drives will have to be powered by a separate cable from external units, or from additional USB/FireWire ports on the computer.
Strictly speaking, support for hotplugging SATA drives assumes (by the standard) that a full-featured Serial ATA power connector (15-pin) is used to power the drive, and not the usual Molex with lines +5, +12 and ground (or an adapter from Molex to SATA power). The fact is that specifically for hot plugging, the Serial ATA power connector provides not only the presence of an additional power line with a voltage of +3.3 V, but also contacts of a different length on the +5 and +12 V lines, which are responsible for the correct sequence of power supply to hot plug disk. However, at the moment, manufacturers of the overwhelming majority of consumer (personal) equipment neglect this requirement and supply power to the switched disk (including inside eSATA devices) the old fashioned way.
eSATA can be used for more than just external hard drives and RAID controllers. For example, optical drives can also be connected to eSATA, eSATA ports themselves can be installed in set-top boxes, PVR recorders and game consoles, and the appearance of such devices is a matter of the future.
So, having found eSATA support in the form of specifications, equipment manufacturers (controllers, motherboards, containers and external drives) hastened to develop and offer such devices to the market, and the most expensive motherboards began to be equipped with eSATA ports. As a result, in 2006, devices with eSATA support appeared on store shelves en masse, invariably arousing the interest of buyers due to a number of attractive features. And we will get acquainted with one of such devices in this article.
Design and characteristics of the Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5 container
Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5 (model A2319) is a stylish all-metal external container (case) for hard drive 3.5-inch form factor with Serial ATA interface. 
It's part of the company's Muse line of metal external hard drive cases, one of which we've already seen before.
Unlike the cases of most other external drives and containers, which use predominantly plastic or combined components, the TT Muse eSATA 3.5 case immediately inspires respect, since it is made entirely of aluminum, and all 4 parts of the case itself are made by casting + milling (and not by profiling thin sheets) , and the minimum thickness of the body walls is 2 mm (plus stiffeners and sidewalls up to 5 mm thick). The body, outside and inside, is processed to obtain a beautiful fine-grained surface (the paint will not peel off over time, since it simply is not there) and in place contains stylish designer stripes-inserts (like molding elements of the body) with longitudinal texturing. The weight of the case with filling (without disk) is almost 750 grams, which additionally makes the structure heavier, partially reducing the self-vibration of the rotating drive. The dimensions of the product are 220 by 125 by 40 mm, which is relatively small for containers of 3.5-inch disks, although sometimes slightly more compact ones are found.
The good external impression is complemented by an attractive round dial indicator with blue backlight, giving the product characteristic features of belonging to the products of this company (remember, for example, Thermaltake indicator panels with similar measuring instruments). 
The case can be installed either vertically on the supplied metal stand (and carefully thought-out gaskets made of light rubber-plastic prevent slipping and scratching of the case) or horizontally (there are inconspicuous rubber “feet” on the bottom).
The case does not have special ventilation holes, however, since it is completely metal, dissipating heat from the disk should not cause any noticeable difficulties, which, however, we will examine in detail below.
The design of the case is such that installing and removing the drive is extremely simple - for this no screw connections are used, - but at the same time the fixation of the disk in the case is rigid and reliable. The fact is that the body consists of a massive base with longitudinal stiffening ribs, to which the sides are screwed at the ends, and on one side a hinged top cover is attached to a hinge (metal spoke). 
The hard drive is simply placed on the base of the case, securely fixed at the bottom on four guides 
through shock-absorbing pads. 
And when the case cover is closed (on the massive side latch), it reliably presses (through thick microporous rubber) the drive to the base, without giving it the slightest opportunity for play and at the same time creating additional protection (shock absorption) during impacts/shocks of the case.
I remember that approximately the same mounting principle is used by the Thermaltake Muse USB container for 2.5-inch drives. 
However, in that case there was a real danger of deforming the disk by pressing on the top cover of the case, whereas in the case of 3.5-inch hard drives such a danger is virtually eliminated.
As a result, we can rate the mechanical part of the body and the appearance of the A2319 container as solid excellent. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about the design and functional sophistication of the electronic part of this product.
According to the specifications, the Muse eSATA 3.5 container has an external eSATA interface (for cable external communications) and internal SATA (for disk), and both SATA 1.0 and SATA 2.5 are supported with data transfer rates of up to 3 Gbit/s. Compatibility with PC and MAC is guaranteed with the appropriate hardware. 
At the “rear” end of the case (although it can just as well serve as the front end, since there are no controls/displays on the front) there is a power switch, an eSATA connector and a multi-pin power connector. 
An integral functional part of this container is the supplied Thermaltake A2360 branded eSATA bracket for the rear panel of the PC system unit, 
on which there are eSATA connectors (with an internal SATA cable on the reverse side) and proprietary +12V and +5V power supply (from the internal 4-pin Molex-type power connector). Wires from the pin connector are connected to the same connector, which is connected to the gap of the hard drive activity indicator on system board(or a separate SATA host controller expansion card), which allows, in principle, to send a disk activity signal from the computer to the container. The kit is complemented by meter-long eSATA cables (standard, sold by TT under the A2361 brand) and power cables (special, although finding a similar one probably won’t be difficult). 
Let us remind you that the eSATA cable connector is not compatible with the internal SATA connector, so replacing one cable with another (and vice versa) will not work. 
The process of connecting the TT Muse eSATA 3.5 container to a computer using this bracket and two cables is simple and is illustrated in the following figure. 
The only point worth paying attention to is the connection of the disk activity indicator wire inside the computer: if you connect it to the gap of the disk activity indicator intended for the front panel of the PC system unit (as recommended by the user manual), then you risk getting a situation where the external the container will indicate the activity of not only its own drive, but also all hard drives and optical drives V system unit. :) Apparently, the optimal case from this point of view is to connect an external container and its indicator to separate the SATA controller board (in the PCI and PCI Express x1 slot), and the internal drives to the controllers on the motherboard. For example, a cheap PCI controller on a SiI3112A chip will come in handy here, at the same time protecting the motherboard from force majeure failure and guaranteeing hot-plug support (see below).
The printed circuit board of the TT Muse eSATA 3.5 container is extremely simple, although it takes up quite a lot of space. 
So the question even arises, why not free space do not solder, for example, a simple SATA-USB translator and a USB connector, thus giving the product more versatility (however, TT already has a new model Muse A2357 in the same case, where eSATA is added USB port). Or, say, not equip the board with its own voltage converters (at least from +12 to +5V) and a universal power connector, so that the container can be powered not only from the computer on the back panel of which the Thermaltake A2360 branded bracket is installed, but also from an external unit power - for working with different computers, equipped with an eSATA port (by the way, this drawback has been corrected in the latest TT Max 4 model, which provides an external power supply). In general, the developers here were clearly stingy at first.
Another puzzling thing is the stylish Thermaltake dial indicator. Yes, it’s beautiful, but what’s the point if, when turned on, its needle is actually fixed in one single position and only shakes slightly (and the backlight remains unchanged)? The position of the arrow conditionally reflects the value of the supply voltage (which is approximately constant). And although the Datatransfar Meter function is declared for this device, that is, supposedly “measuring the speed” of data transfer over the interface, in fact, this device simply reflects the activity of the disk access indicator signal (see above), and its circuit implementation on the A2319 board is as follows that the arrow twitches very slightly when accessing disks, almost imperceptibly (apparently, they got confused with the resistor values). Without providing real information about whether calls are made specifically to the container disk, and not to any of the internal drives of the system unit. It is clear that the Serial ATA interface does not have additional signal lines to easily obtain this information, but such almost complete uselessness of the indicator is somehow depressing. Let's hope that the situation has been corrected in the new models of TT eSATA containers, where the use of a separate interface chip can help with this.
It is worth mentioning separately that it is optimal to use a container with SATA controllers, fully supporting the hot plug/unplug function of drives. Unfortunately, not all SATA controllers (especially the early ones) are capable of supporting hot-plug and hot-swap, so to avoid misunderstandings, you should limit yourself to Intel chipsets with south bridges ICH6/7/8, VIA VT8237R, Nvidia nForce, ATI, SiS , Silicon Image, ULi or others with AHCI hot-plug support. When hot-disconnecting such a drive from the system, you should remember to use the Safety Remove option of the operating system to avoid data loss and even system freezes.
Packaging and accessories
The massive and colorful TT Muse eSATA 3.5″ box carries more of an image load, 
although everything inside is neatly laid out, and the container is secured between polyurethane foam shock absorbers, so that it can be transported even with a disc inside. 
The completeness is also decent and sufficient, including detailed guide user with illustrations: 
And since our hero does not have any other specialties, we can only evaluate his functional characteristics at work.
Tests
The tests were carried out using a system based on:
- Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
- Motherboard based on i945G chipset
- System memory Patriot DDR2-533 2×256 MB
- Primary hard drive
- Case with 350 watt power supply
- Operating system MS Windows XP Professional SP2
The container with the drive was connected to the ICH7R controller on the motherboard and was recognized in the system as a regular (internal) hard drive.
First of all, let's check if the SATA speed is dropping. For example, with the Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 HDS724040KLSA80 drive, which has a Serial ATA 1.0 interface with a transfer speed of 1.5 Gbit/s, the disk test of the Everest 2.50 utility showed an interface speed of 115.2 MB/s, which coincides with the speed within the measurement error interface of this disk when connected internally (see, for example,). The average random access time when writing for this drive in a TT Muse eSATA 3.5 container was 12.8 ms, 
which also corresponds to the case of internal connection.
For more modern 500 GB drives Maxtor DiamondMax 11 6H500F0 and Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS, supporting Serial ATA II at 3 Gbps, the interface speed measured by the HD Tach 3.0.1.0 utility was: 
And 
which is also almost identical to the case of internal connection of these drives. After running a couple more tests and making sure that the performance of modern hard drives does not drop at all when used in the A2319 container, we came to the conclusion that it is better to test in more detail the heating of the drives inside the A2319 case during active operation, since this aspect may turn out to be the most critical and, in ultimately affect the performance and reliability of hard drives.
To emulate the load of active drive operation inside a container, the Heating pattern was used for the Iometer program with a more or less typical nature of calls for intensive disk operations: 
This load warms up the disk somewhat less than, for example, a continuous test for average read access time (random read in blocks of 512 bytes), but the latter actually does not occur in real work for any length of time, while the Heating pattern reflects reality and at the same time is a fairly active “burner”, which is confirmed by data on the energy consumption of disks at similar loads (see, for example, last part our review).
This pattern was run cyclically at command queue depths of 1, 4, 16 and 64 (15 minutes per queue), and after each hour of measurements, temperature readings were taken for the drive in the A2319 container, as well as the motherboard and disk in the testing system unit. The results were recorded based on readings from the SpeedFan 4.27 (continuous) and Everest 2.50 (hourly) utilities. 
As test drives placed in the A2319 container, 2 high-capacity drives were selected for this test:
- Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 HDS724040KLSA80 400 GB as the most power-hungry (and “hot”) SATA drive known to us based on test results.
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500 GB as the most capacious (at the time of our tests) hard drive with support for SATA 3 Gb/s, while having average consumption among analogues during active work.
Based on the results obtained from continuous operation of the container with the disk for 4 hours, the following graphs were constructed.
As you can see, after a couple of hours of active operation, the temperature of the hard drive stabilizes. At the same time Seagate drive heated up to only 46 degrees, which can be considered a very good indicator, and the Hitachi drive heated up to 51 degrees, which also satisfies the specifications for its operating temperature with a margin.
Thus, we can conclude that the Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5 container provides sufficient cooling of the hard drive placed inside, even during active operation, and the performance of the drive is at the same level as if it were used inside a computer.
Price
In the table below you can see the average Moscow prices for Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5″ (A2319), current at the time you read this article:
| Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5″ (A2319) |
|---|
| N/A(0) |
Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, there were quite a few offers of this product in Moscow, and the price turned out to be very high - about fifty dollars, or even more. A quick search of American sellers also showed a very modest nature of the offers and a high price.
Conclusion
So, the Thermaltake Muse eSATA 3.5″ container (A2319) for external connection eSATA hard drives have demonstrated worthy consumer qualities, among which the excellent mechanical design, excellent appearance, excellent operating speed and quite acceptable cooling and shock-proof properties are especially attractive. Some disadvantages include the ill-conceived electronic part (although it is extremely simple here), the lack of support for the USB interface (as an alternative) and the need to use a special bracket and cable to power the container with the disk from the desktop computer being used. That is, the actual impossibility of using this disk with a laptop or mini-PC. In addition, it seems to us that the current price for this product is somewhat overpriced, since even for a lower price you can buy a less famous, but more functional aluminum container for IDE and SATA drives with external interfaces not only SATA, but also USB. But more on that another time. ;)
A hard drive is a simple and small “box” in appearance that stores huge amounts of information in the computer of any modern user.
This is exactly what it seems like from the outside: a fairly uncomplicated little thing. Rarely does anyone, when recording, deleting, copying and other actions with files of varying importance, think about the principle of interaction between the hard drive and the computer. And to be even more precise - directly from the motherboard.
How these components are connected into a single uninterrupted operation, how the hard drive itself is designed, what connection connectors it has and what each of them is intended for - this is key information about the data storage device that is familiar to everyone.
HDD interface
This is the term that can correctly be used to describe interaction with the motherboard. The word itself has a much broader meaning. For example, the program interface. In this case, we mean the part that provides a way for a person to interact with the software (convenient “friendly” design).
However, there is discord. In the case of the HDD and motherboard, it is not pleasant graphic design for the user, but a set of special lines and data transfer protocols. These components are connected to each other using a cable - a cable with inputs at both ends. They are designed to connect to ports on the hard drive and motherboard.
In other words, the entire interface on these devices is two cables. One is connected to the power connector of the hard drive at one end and to the computer’s power supply itself at the other. And the second of the cables connects the HDD to the motherboard.
How a hard drive was connected in the old days - the IDE connector and other relics of the past
The very beginning, after which more advanced ones appear HDD interfaces. Ancient by today's standards, it appeared on the market around the 80s of the last century. IDE literally means “embedded controller”.
Being a parallel data interface, it is also commonly called ATA - However, it was worth it to appear over time new technology SATA and gained enormous popularity in the market as standard ATA was renamed to PATA (Parallel ATA) to avoid confusion.
Extremely slow and completely raw in its technical capabilities, this interface during the years of its popularity could transfer from 100 to 133 megabytes per second. And then only in theory, because in real practice these indicators were even more modest. Of course, newer interfaces and hard drive connectors will show a noticeable lag between the IDE and modern developments.
Do you think we shouldn’t downplay the attractive sides? Older generations probably remember that technical capabilities PATA made it possible to service two HDDs at once using only one cable connected to the motherboard. But the line capacity in this case was similarly distributed in half. And this is not to mention the width of the wire, which somehow, due to its dimensions, impedes the flow of fresh air from the fans in the system unit.
By now, the IDE is naturally outdated, both physically and morally. And if until recently this connector was found on motherboards in the low and middle price segments, now the manufacturers themselves do not see any prospects in it.
Everyone's favorite SATA
On long time IDE has become the most widespread interface for working with storage devices. But data transmission and processing technologies did not stagnate for long, soon offering a conceptually new solution. Now it can be found in almost any owner personal computer. And its name is SATA (Serial ATA).
Distinctive features of this interface are parallel low power consumption (compared to IDE), less heating of components. Throughout the history of its popularity, SATA has undergone development in three stages of revisions:
- SATA I - 150 Mb/s.
- SATA II - 300 MB/s.
- SATA III - 600 MB/s.
A couple of updates were also developed for the third revision:
- 3.1 - more advanced throughput, but still limited to a limit of 600 MB/s.
- 3.2 with the SATA Express specification - a successfully implemented merger of SATA and PCI-Express devices, which made it possible to increase the read/write speed of the interface to 1969 MB/s. Roughly speaking, technology is an “adapter” that translates normal mode SATA at a higher speed, which is what the PCI connector lines have.
The real indicators, of course, clearly differed from the officially announced ones. First of all, this is due to the excess bandwidth of the interface - for many modern drives the same 600 MB/s is unnecessary, since they were not originally designed to operate at such read/write speeds. Only over time, when the market gradually becomes filled with high-speed drives with operating speeds that are incredible for today, will the technical potential of SATA be fully utilized.
Finally, many physical aspects have been improved. SATA is designed to use longer cables (1 meter versus 46 centimeters used to connect IDE hard drives) with a much more compact size and pleasant appearance. Support for “hot-swap” HDDs is provided - you can connect/disconnect them without turning off the computer’s power (however, you still need to first activate the AHCI mode in the BIOS).
The convenience of connecting the cable to the connectors has also increased. Moreover, all versions of the interface are backward compatible with each other (a SATA III hard drive connects without problems to II on the motherboard, SATA I to SATA II, etc.). The only caveat is that the maximum speed of working with data will be limited by the “oldest” link.
Owners of old devices will also not be left out - existing PATA to SATA adapters will often save you from the more expensive purchase of a modern HDD or a new motherboard.
External SATA
But a standard hard drive is not always suitable for the user’s tasks. There is a need to store large volumes of data that require use in different places and, accordingly, transportation. For such cases, when you have to work with one drive not only at home, external hard drives. Due to the specifics of their device, they require a completely different connection interface.
This is another type of SATA, created for external hard drive connectors, with the external prefix. Physically, this interface is not compatible with standard SATA ports, but it has similar throughput.
There is support for hot-swap HDD, and the length of the cable itself has been increased to two meters.
In its original version, eSATA only allows the exchange of information, without feeding it into the corresponding connector external hard drive the required electricity. This drawback, which eliminates the need to use two cables at once for connection, was corrected with the advent of the Power eSATA modification, combining eSATA technologies (responsible for data transfer) with USB (responsible for power).
Universal Serial Bus
In fact, becoming the most common serial connection standard digital technology, Universal Serial Bus is a household name these days.
Having endured a long history of constant major changes, USB stands for high data transfer speeds, power for an unprecedented variety of peripheral devices, and ease and convenience for everyday use.
Developed by companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Phillips and US Robotics, the interface became the embodiment of several technical aspirations:
- Expanding the functionality of computers. Standard peripherals before the advent of USB were quite limited in variety and each type required a separate port (PS/2, port for connecting a joystick, SCSI, etc.). With the advent of USB, it was thought that it would become a single universal replacement, significantly simplifying the interaction of devices with a computer. Moreover, this development, new for its time, was also supposed to stimulate the emergence of non-traditional peripheral devices.
- Provide Connection mobile phones to computers. The trend of transition spreading in those years mobile networks on digital transmission voice revealed that none of the interfaces developed then could provide data and voice transmission from the phone.
- Inventing a convenient "plug and play" principle, suitable for "hot plugging".
As is the case with the vast majority of digital equipment, a USB hard drive connector is for a long time has become a completely familiar phenomenon for us. However, in different years of its development, this interface has always demonstrated new peaks in speed indicators for reading/writing information.
USB version | Description | Bandwidth |
The first release version of the interface after several preliminary versions. Released January 15, 1996. |
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Improvement of version 1.0, correcting many of its problems and errors. Released in September 1998, it first gained mass popularity. | ||
Released in April 2000, the second version of the interface has a new, faster High-Speed operating mode. |
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The latest generation of USB, which has received not only updated bandwidth indicators, but also comes in blue/red colors. Date of appearance: 2008. | Up to 600 MB per second |
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Further development of the third revision, published on July 31, 2013. It is divided into two modifications, which can provide any hard drive with a USB connector with a maximum speed of up to 10 Gbit per second. |
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Besides this specification, different versions USB are also implemented for different types of devices. Among the varieties of cables and connectors of this interface are:
| USB 2.0 | Standard | ||
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USB 3.0 could already offer one more new type- C. Cables of this type are symmetrical and are inserted into the corresponding device from either side.
On the other hand, the third revision no longer provides for Mini and Micro “subtypes” of cables for type A.
Alternative FireWire
For all their popularity, eSATA and USB are not all options for how to connect an external hard drive connector to a computer.
FireWire is a slightly less known high-speed interface among the masses. Provides serial connection external devices, the supported number of which also includes HDD.
Its property of isochronous data transmission has mainly found its application in multimedia technology (video cameras, DVD players, digital audio equipment). Hard drives are connected to them much less often, giving preference to SATA or a more advanced USB interface.
This technology acquired its modern technical characteristics gradually. Thus, the original version of FireWire 400 (1394a) was faster than its then main competitor USB 1.0 - 400 megabits per second versus 12. The maximum permissible cable length was 4.5 meters.
The arrival of USB 2.0 left its rival behind, allowing data exchange at a speed of 480 megabits per second. However, with the release of the new FireWire 800 (1394b) standard, which made it possible to transmit 800 megabits per second with a maximum cable length at 100 meters, USB 2.0 was less in demand on the market. This prompted the development of the third version of the serial universal bus, which expanded the data exchange ceiling to 5 Gbit/s.
Besides this, distinctive feature FireWire is decentralized. Transferring information via a USB interface requires a PC. FireWire allows you to exchange data between devices without necessarily involving a computer in the process.
Thunderbolt
Intel, together with Apple, showed its vision of which hard drive connector should become an unconditional standard in the future by introducing the Thunderbolt interface to the world (or, according to its old code name, Light Peak).
Built on PCI-E and DisplayPort architectures, this development allows you to transfer data, video, audio and power through a single port with truly impressive speeds of up to 10 Gb/s. In real tests, this figure was a little more modest and reached a maximum of 8 Gb/s. Nevertheless, even so, Thunderbolt has overtaken its closest analogs FireWire 800 and USB 3.0, not to mention eSATA.
But this promising idea of a single port and connector has not yet received such mass distribution. Although some manufacturers today successfully integrate connectors for external hard drives, the Thunderbolt interface. On the other hand, the price for the technical capabilities of the technology is also relatively high, which is why this development is found mainly among expensive devices.
Compatibility with USB and FireWire can be achieved using the appropriate adapters. This approach will not make them faster in terms of data transfer, since the throughput of both interfaces will still remain the same. There is only one advantage here - Thunderbolt will not be the limiting link with such a connection, allowing you to use all the technical capabilities of USB and FireWire.
SCSI and SAS - something that not everyone has heard of
Another parallel interface for connecting peripheral devices, which at one point shifted the focus of its development from desktop computers for a wider range of technology.
"Small Computer System Interface" was developed a little earlier than SATA II. By the time the latter was released, both interfaces were almost identical in their properties to each other, capable of providing the hard drive connector with stable operation from computers. However, SCSI used a common bus, which is why only one of the connected devices could work with the controller.
Further refinement of the technology, which acquired the new name SAS (Serial Attached SCSI), was already devoid of its previous drawback. SAS provides connectivity for devices with a set of managed SCSI commands via physical interface, which is similar to the same SATA. However, broader capabilities allow you to connect not only hard drive connectors, but also many other peripherals (printers, scanners, etc.).
Supports hot-swappable devices, bus expanders with the ability to simultaneously connect multiple SAS devices to one port, and is also backward compatible with SATA.
Prospects for NAS
An interesting way to work with large volumes of data, rapidly gaining popularity among modern users.
Or NAS for short are separate computer with some disk array, which is connected to a network (often a local one) and provides storage and transmission of data among other connected computers.
Playing a role network storage, this mini-server is connected to other devices via an ordinary Ethernet cable. Further access to its settings is provided through any browser connected to network address NAS The available data on it can be used both via an Ethernet cable and via Wi-Fi.
This technology allows us to provide a fairly reliable level of information storage and provide convenient, easy access to it for trusted persons.
Features of connecting hard drives to laptops
Principle HDD operation with a desktop computer is extremely simple and understandable to everyone - in most cases, you need to connect the power connectors of the hard drive with the power supply using the appropriate cable and connect the device to the motherboard in the same way. When using external drives, you can generally get by with just one cable (Power eSATA, Thunderbolt).
But how to properly use laptop hard drive connectors? After all, a different design requires taking into account slightly different nuances.
Firstly, to connect information storage devices directly “inside” the device itself, it should be taken into account that the HDD form factor must be designated as 2.5”
Secondly, in a laptop the hard drive is connected directly to the motherboard. Without any additional cables. Simply unscrew the HDD cover on the bottom of the previously switched off laptop. It has a rectangular appearance and is usually secured with a pair of bolts. It is in that container that the storage device should be placed.
All laptop hard drive connectors are absolutely identical to their larger “brothers” intended for PCs.
Another connection option is to use an adapter. For example, a SATA III drive can be connected to USB ports installed on a laptop using a SATA-USB adapter (there are a huge variety of similar devices on the market for a variety of interfaces).
You just need to connect the HDD to the adapter. It, in turn, is connected to a 220V outlet to supply power. And use a USB cable to connect this entire structure to the laptop, after which the hard drive will appear as another partition during operation.
Despite the evolution of optical technologies and the emergence of standards such as HD DVD and Blu-Ray, it is hard drives that allow those who work with digital media data to store and transfer colossal volumes. There are simply not enough optics to store even ordinary video in the processing stage, not to mention video high definition (High Definition- HD). It's no secret that when processing, to output just one minute of the finished video, you have to store an entire hour of source material, which is then compiled, recomposed and re-folded. Therefore, it is not surprising that many professionals use external drives.
Typically, external hard drives are slower than their internal counterparts. In order not to lose mobility, external drives usually use a USB or FireWire interface, which imposes a limitation on the transfer speed: peak Bandwidth ranges from 400 to 480 Mbit/s. How little is this compared to the new SATA standard, which provides up to 300 Gbit/s! And with each passing year, with the increase in megapixels of cameras and the popularization of HD video, the old interfaces will seem more and more “poor”, because it will take you a long time to copy 30 GB of video to a drive with a USB interface. Noticeably longer than the second SATA hard drive if it is installed in your computer.
Except high performance, important advantage SATA interface is "hot swap". Today we'll introduce you to one of the pioneers among external SATA (eSATA) hard drives: the Seagate eSATA 500 GB. It's worth noting that although we tested the 500GB version, Seagate also makes a 300GB eSATA drive model, which is correspondingly less expensive.
External view of a Seagate eSATA drive.
Like all Seagate hard drives, the drive we received for testing has a model number. In this case, it is ST3500601XS-RK, which is impossible to remember and unnecessary. It’s easier to call the device Seagate eSATA, and everyone will understand you - even the Price.ru database. Inside the Seagate eSATA there is a Seagate Barracuda ST3500641 hard drive with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm, which is classified as to line 7200.9 with a capacity of 500 GB and a 16 MB cache. This is not latest model Seagate has already visited the THG laboratory with a 750 GB drive from the 7200.10 family, which we are now giving away to our readers. For the computer to “see” the hard drive Seagate eSATA 500Gb, you need to connect an eSATA data cable and a power cable to the device.
The eSATA cable is black and the red one is regular cable SATA. Don't get confused.
The eSATA design is broadly similar to other Seagate hard drives, but there are some differences. The stylish silver case with black inserts is made a little differently than the Seagate 400Gb Pushbutton Backup models - both the front panel and the back are different. The changes to the front panel are mostly cosmetic, but the front button now turns on the drive rather than launching the utility backup. After power is applied to the Seagate eSATA 500Gb, the blue LED lights up. Numerous USB and Firewire connectors have disappeared at the rear, and the socket into which the plug from the power supply is inserted has also changed.
Another nice feature of Seagate external hard drives has also disappeared - the possibility of modular connection. Previous Seagate PushButton Backups could be installed on top of each other and connected with a FireWire cable “one through the other.” However, with USB interface this could not be done. Now we have an eSATA interface, and drives are no longer connected one to another. But now drives can be connected in RAID. And you can stack them on top of each other as before, while the design of the cover is optimized so that the “stack” of hard drives does not fall apart.
Just one eSATA connector on the back
The drive comes with a Promise eSATA300 TX2 controller with two external ports. A very logical step, since eSATA ports on motherboards, although they are found, are not as common as USB and FireWire. Note that connecting Seagate eSATA to a laptop is a completely different topic. A laptop controller is not included with the device.
The package includes a Promise eSATA300 TX2 PCI controller.
In addition to the drive and eSATA card, the kit includes software package BounceBack Express V 7.0. It is very easy to use and allows you to back up entire drives and folders. In addition, Bounceback gives you the ability to schedule reservations. Is it true to compare BounceBack with backup tools like Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost we wouldn’t - the weight categories are too different.
User manual and cables included.
As we've already noted, the key difference between the new Seagate eSATA drive and older hard drive models is that the drive has lost FireWire and USB ports. In our opinion, these ports should be left. Of course, the drive's strong point is its excellent performance. But external hard drives have another advantage: portability. If you want to transfer data using a Seagate drive to another PC, it must have an eSATA port. Most likely, you will encounter a lack of one. It is important to understand that eSATA and SATA connectors are different from each other. You cannot connect regular SATA drives to the eSATA controller, and vice versa, connect Seagate eSATA through a regular SATA connector on the motherboard.
You will not be able to connect an eSATA drive to a SATA connector.
SATA and eSATA connectors on controllers.
SATA and eSATA connectors.
And yet, eSATA is gradually appearing even in inexpensive motherboards. So recently a desktop computer visited the THG laboratory
Many computer users have come across the word SATA more than once, but not many know what it is. Should you pay attention to it when choosing a hard drive, system board or a ready-made computer? After all, the word SATA is now often mentioned in the characteristics of these devices.
We give a definition
SATA is a serial data transfer interface between various drives information, which replaced the parallel ATA interface.
Work on creating this interface began in 2000.
In February 2000, on the initiative Intel A special working group was created, which included the leaders of IT technologies of those times and today: Dell, Maxtor, Seagate, APT Technologies, Quantum and many other equally significant companies.
As a result of two years of collaboration, the first SATA connectors appeared on motherboards at the end of 2002. They were used to transmit data through network devices.
And since 2003, the serial interface has been integrated into all modern motherboards.
To visually feel the difference between ATA and SATA, look at the photo below.
Serial ATA interface.
New interface at the software level, compatible with all existing hardware devices and providing more high speed data transfer.
As can be seen from the photo above, the 7-pin wire has a smaller thickness, which provides a more convenient connection between each other various devices, and also allows you to increase the number of Serial ATA connectors on the motherboard.
In some motherboard models, their number can reach as many as 6.
Lower operating voltage, fewer contacts and microcircuits have reduced the heat generation of devices. Therefore, SATA port controllers do not overheat, which ensures even more reliable data transfer.
However, it is still problematic to connect most modern disk drives to the Serial ATA interface, so all manufacturers of modern motherboards have not yet abandoned the ATA (IDE) interface.
Cables and connectors
For full data transfer via the SATA interface, two cables are used.
One, 7-pin, directly for data transmission, and the second, 15-pin, power, for supplying additional voltage.
At the same time, the 15-pin power cable is connected to the power supply, through a regular 4-pin connector that produces two different voltages, 5 and 12 V.
The SATA power cable produces operating voltages of 3.3, 5 and 12 V, with a current of 4.5 A.
Cable width 2.4 cm.
To ensure a smooth transition from ATA to SATA in terms of power connections, you can still see the old 4-pin connectors on some hard drive models.
But as a rule, modern hard drives already come with only a new 15-pin connector.
The Serial ATA data cable can be connected to the hard drive and motherboard even when the latter are turned on, which could not be done with the old ATA interface.
This is achieved due to the fact that the grounding pins in the area of the interface contacts are made slightly longer than the signal and power pins.
Therefore, when connecting, the ground wires come into contact first, and only then all the others.
The same can be said about the 15-pin power cable.
Table, Serial ATA power connector.
SATA Configuration
The main difference between the SATA and ATA configurations is the absence of special switches and Master/Slave type chips.
There is also no need to choose where to connect the device to the cable, because there are two such places on the ATA cable, and the device that is connected at the end of the cable is considered the main one in the BIOS.
The absence of Master/Slave settings not only greatly simplifies the hardware configuration, but also allows for faster installation operating systems, for example, .
Speaking of BIOS, settings in it won’t take much time either. You can quickly find and configure everything there.
Data transfer rate
Data transfer speed is one of the important parameters, for the improvement of which the SATA interface was developed.
But this figure in this interface has constantly increased and now the data transfer speed can reach up to 1969 MB/s. Much depends on the generation of the SATA interface, and there are already 5 of them.
The first generations of the serial interface, version “0,” could transfer up to 50 MB/s, but they did not catch on, as they were immediately replaced by SATA 1.0. the data transfer speed of which already reached 150 MB/s.
The appearance of SATA series and their capabilities.
Series:
- 1.0 – debut time 01/7/2003 – maximum theoretical data transfer speed 150 MB/s.
- 2.0 – will appear in 2004, fully compatible with version 1.0, maximum theoretical data transfer speed of 300 MB/s or 3 Gbit/s.
- 3.0 – debut time July 2008, start of release May 2009. Theoretical maximum speed is 600 MB/s or 6 Gb/s.
- 3.1 – debut time July 2011, speed – 600 MB/s or 6 Gbit/s. A more improved version than in paragraph 3.
- 3.2, as well as the SATA Express specification included in it - released in 2013. In this version, SATA and PCIe devices merged. Data transfer speed has increased to 1969 MB/s.
In this interface, data transfer is carried out at a speed of 16 Gbit/s or 1969 MB/s due to the interaction of two PCIe Express and SATA lines.
The SATA Express interface has begun to be implemented in Intel chipsets 9th series and at the beginning of 2014 was still little known.
If they are not introduced into the jungle of IT technologies, then in a nutshell we can say this.
Serial ATA Express is a kind of transition bridge that converts the usual signal transmission mode in SATA mode to a higher speed one, which is possible thanks to the PCI Express interface.
eSATA
eSATA is used to connect external devices, which once again confirms the versatility of the SATA interface.
More reliable connection connectors and ports are already used here.
The disadvantage is that the external device requires a separate dedicated cable to operate.
But the interface developers soon solved this problem by introducing the power supply directly into the main cable in the eSATAp interface.
eSATAp is a modified eSATA interface in the implementation of which USB 2.0 technology was used. The main advantage of this interface is the transmission of 5 and 12 Volt voltages via wires.
Accordingly, eSATAp 5 V and eSATAp 12 V are found.
There are other names for the interface, it all depends on the manufacturer. You may see similar names: Power eSATA, Power over eSATA, eSATA USB Hybrid Port (EUHP), eSATApd and SATA/USB Combo.
See below for what the interface looks like.
The Mini eSATAp interface has also been developed for laptops and netbooks.
mSATA
mSATA – implemented since September 2009. Designed for use in laptops, netbooks and other small PCs.
The photo above, as an example, shows two drives, one regular SATA, it’s at the bottom. Above is a disk with an mSATA interface.
For those interested, you can familiarize yourself with the characteristics of mSATA drives.
Such drives are installed in almost every ultrabook.
The mSATA interface is rarely used in ordinary computers.
mSATA to Serial ATA Converter Adapter.
Conclusion
From the above it is clear that the SATA serial data transfer interface has not yet completely exhausted itself.
