Benchmarks show eSATA still king
The benchmarks - carried out by CrunchGear - show that the speed king for external storage is still eSATA.
As reported over on CrunchGear, tests using the first generation of USB 3.0 external storage devices show some impressive speed gains over USB 2.0 based devices - almost trebling the peak read speed, for example. While that's good news for external storage users, the comparison didn't end there - showing that a comparable eSATA device was a third again as fast, beating the USB 3.0 version by almost 33MB/s.
The figures offered by CrunchGear were obtained using the HD Tune Pro benchmark on a range of storage devices - a 5,400 Seagate internal SATA baseline, a PS110 connected via both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, and a FreeAgent Extreme connected via FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA. While the tests show the speed gains possible through USB 3.0, eSATA is clearly the performance king when it comes to external storage devices.
That could be set to change in the near future: the current generation of USB 3.0-connected storage devices are early models, and as controller manufacturers settle in to the new standard performance is likely to improve. USB 3.0 offers advantages over eSATA aside from speed, too: with integrated provision for power, USB 3.0 requires only a single cable to both power and communicate with an external device - unlike eSATA, which requires separate data and power provision.
For now, however, if you're interested in getting the fastest external storage possible, the message is clear - your rig is going to need eSATA.
Are you a big external storage user, and if so what connectivity method do you use? Do you think that USB 3.0 will improve enough to challenge eSATA? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyDo you need a separate power supply like with 3.5" external HDD's or does it get power through a USB cable, or is it something else?
I've been saying since esata first showed up, it needs power integrated. So I still think usb3.0 will dominate the market, but if they could get esata 6gb WITH power standardized and in products, there's still plenty of room for it in the market.
i got an eSATA plug at the front, so i still prefer eSATA. and i just use it for extra storage/file server in the house, so i barely unplug it... my old USB2.0 storage needs a power plug too tho...
usb2.0 sends power through it think of your webcam
anyway i dont know about you buy usb3.0 is backwards compatable with 2.0 and every body has a usb port in some form or another but not everyone has esata ports becasue usb is more practicle
ask most people on the street about esata and they wont understand you ask them about usb and they will of at least heard of it
as the article says, with more mature controller, we should see performance of USB3 improve.
eSATA is faster is because it cuts off the USB controller, once the controller is optimised, USB3 should be faster than eSATA 3Gbps.
Most 3.5" HDDs will draw more than an amp worth of current and I think USB 3.0 can only supply half an amp at most, so I think you'd still need a power supply.
USB 2 tends to be faster than Firewire 400 but ONLY when there is only one device on the USB bus.
Once you have two devices the bandwith is halved, etc, where as Firewire is a parallel technology so every device gets the same 400mbs
Also I tend to find Firewire puts less laod on teh CPU when doing a lot of copies
In theory it could be up to 5v and 0.9 amps (or even 1.8 if its used as just a power cable) , but current implementations are limited to less.
As for eSata, power over eSata is planned, but when we will actually see products in retail is unknown.
Example of a device that uses that: http://www.trustedreviews.com/storage/review/2009/12/03/Verbatim-eSATA-USB-Combo-SSD-32GB/p1
The above device, also has USB plug for usage on system that doesn't have a powered eSATA (it's essentially (well that is what) it is a USB with a eSATA plug in the same plug. So you can plug a USB device or eSATA or a eSATA powered plug)
thats why people use 2.5inch drives becasue they will run from a single usb 2.0 cable
But such as USB3.0 becomes more mature so will SATA3 and possible eSATA2 or eSATA3 just to keep up with the tech and without creating confusion to the average consumer. Maybe then the speed of new eSATA will make up for needing 2 wires instead of one.
Bottom line, for travel and business person, USB3.0 on 2.5" drives is the perfect solution. For upper mainstream, enthusiasts who like to have external storage, eSATA. A power hub to the eSATA caddies/drives might also prove worthy
Everyone knows USB and everyone has USB.
ability to plug your drive into any computer in the last 10+ years is where it wins over.
usb has ease of setup, backwards compatibility, and universal adoption, even if it is slower. it is just an easier standard to use. that does not make it "better" it just make it more prevalent, and also the only choice if you want true portability.
esata has limited and specific uses, as long as you stick to those it works. as soon as you venture out into the world at large better make sure you have a usb option.
my prediction: usb 3 will see a slower adoption rate than both usb 1 and 2, since full implementation of the standard would eliminate the backwards compatibility (e.g. the power issue). once it hits critical mass in consumer systems, however, it will fully replace both usb 2 on all new peripherals. it is at roughly this point i would expect to see the driver issues fully resolved and we can expect the highest real world sustained speeds from new devices. also, usb 3 relegates esata to the history bin, just like its predecessors did with firewire.
For me when I buy a laptop, as port wise, I won't even look at it if it doesn't have eSATA and Display-Port (I can stretch down to HDMI, assuming I can get a adapter (or a new cable (Monitor has both inputs)) which will all fit my overall budget for the laptop.)
im holding a 250gb sata internal HDD one that can be bought right off the shelf OEM....
+5V 0.72A
+12V 0.52A
seeing as usb 3.0 can do .9amps (im assuming on 12v) it should be able to handle 3.5" drives (unless 1TB drives pull twice the amps a 250gb hdd does, which i doubt).
i guess it depends what your computer is, if its a laptop or something then ok, i will agree with this; but, my case has basically a sata cable going for the esata port to whatever port i choose to put it in, so i can put on the same controller as my HDDs (i dont need to set something in my bios for my boot drive to boot therefore i wouldnt need to set one for whatever is in the esata port).
I know that on some comps you do not have to set anything in the bios, but my point was that with usb you *never* have to. just because a computer has an esata port doe not guarantee that i will not have to futz around with settings and possibly reboot a couple of times till i get it right. there is no real standard for how esata is handled by the hardware. some have dedicated controllers, others just have an external sata port on raid with hotswap. until that all gets sorted out it will just make people cold to the idea.
esata is also viewed as a one trick pony: it pretty much only does storage. usb pretty much does everything, from printers to mice to anything else you can think of. i guarantee you will never see an esata keyboard.
don't get me wrong, for storage options esata has a lot more promise than usb, and even now it is the better choice for certain situations, it's just that it has some big hurdles before it will be widely accepted by the masses. judging from the failure of firewire i have my doubts if it will be able to overcome those hurdles. i think usb is just too entrenched and versitile to be dropped, and i doubt esata will be able to garner the recognition that it deserves in the public eye. like firewire i think it will pretty much remain in the domain of the geeks, and produces for it will be fairly limited.
This is the reason I never cared for USB 3.0 i've been using ESATA since my Nforce 4 motherboard. My external hard drives don't travel often so for me taking two seconds to plug in a power cable within arm's length is not an issue. All the computers that i've used aslong as the ESATA controller was set on in the bios and the driver installed on the machine you never have to touch the bios.
"eSATA is growing, it had a slower start than USB 3.0, because it was something entirelly new"
if you are referring to it showing up on more motherboards I agree, but if not I disagree ESATA is not new i've been using it for years!