Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > USB 3.0 speed vs. eSATA

USB 3.0 speed vs. eSATA

That's nice.

reply to Oleg
very nice, yes

I just do not understand why eSATA is not popular as USB is.

Where do you come up with these questions. Really?

Because not many do. I've had more issues with eSATA than any other external storage connection. Especially with desktops.

reply to Oleg
Seriously, are you serious?

USB has been around for, what, almost 20 years while eSATA is less than 10 years old. You can find USB in most PC/laptop/tablet/phone/multimedia device manufactured in the last 10 years, while eSATA is much less widespread, though nowadays most mobos have it.
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reply to Oleg
I have an aging HP MediaSmart EX490 Windows Home Server. Beyond its internal four bay capacity the eSATA port with port multiplier is its fastest external connection option. It has three rear USB 2.0 ports and one front USB 2.0 port as well.

Connected to the server I have two Mediasonic Pro Box 4 bay enclosure units (one supports USB 2.0 + eSATA and the other USB 3.0 and eSATA) allowing for a total of 12 HDDs.

My next server will probably run a combo of SATA, eSATA and USB 3.0.

I've briefly read that USB Attached SCSI (UAS) can improve USB 3.0 performance.

reply to Oleg
I use eSATAp (power over eSATA) for my external drive and consistently get 90 MB/sec or better. What speeds do you get for USB3?

reply to Oleg
USB3 is theoretically faster than SATA2, but the protocol has more overhead so its about even. Both are way faster than any HDD.
USB3 does cause interference in the 2.4GHZ band so if you use wireless kb/m eSATA would be the better choice.

reply to Oleg
As others have said, with mechanical drives, you probably won't notice a difference between the two. I forgot where it was (maybe Anandtech), but I remember reading a review a while ago of an external drive using both eSATA and USB 3.0. The USB connection ended up being slightly faster, possibly from additional buffering at some point in the chain. It was a small difference though, not worth worrying about unless you're transferring tons of data frequently (hundreds of GB+).

With the right controller, device, and transfer mode (read: UASP), USB 3.0 can go well beyond SATA 3 Gbps speeds. 6 Gbps eSATA doesn't appear to be very common, at least integrated into motherboards. There are PCI slot brackets that you can get that have an eSATA port on them and plug into any SATA port on the motherboard. That's an easy and cheap way to get 6 Gbps eSATA, or at least better performing 3 Gbps eSATA than what you'll get from a JMicron or Marvell controller that's commonly slapped on newer motherboards.

One thing I will say about my personal experience with eSATA devices is that they tend to be quite picky about what controllers are used at either end, cable length/condition, and any movement during use. USB 3.0 has been much more forgiving to me in those regards (maybe not cables, haven't tried enough yet). eSATA was a good stopgap before USB 3.0 was widespread, but it'll probably be a niche interface before long, if not already.
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reply to Da Man
Interesting. I didn't know anything about that. Now we have older cordless phones, 801.11 b/g/n, BT, and USB3 all polluting the same frequencies.
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reply to Oleg
FWIW:

I've been trying to get eSata to work with some of my older external HDDs that have USB2/FW400/eSata enclosures, and I find eSata to be really flaky to get working, it's fast once you've got it going, but there's always a hangup to getting it to mount the drive.

It certainly isn't plug and play, that's for sure, it's great when it works, but unless you're dead set on having it for some reason (like USB3 interferes with a wireless signal, or in my case LMS on Linux sees USB mounted drives as a separate "user" which it doesn't have access to) I'd stick to USB3.

It's just too much hassle to get it to work consistently.
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reply to Oleg
The thing I really like about eSATAp is the fact that it eliminates the need for an enclosure for my external drive. No enclosure, no power brick, and no 120VAC cord; just one cable does it all - power and data. I have a 1-meter cable from the port on my PC going to a bare drive sitting on my desk. The controller can even be set up for RAID configurations if I want.

reply to aurgathor
How long until we see shielded Monster USB cables and enclosures, or is it against company policy to make useful products?

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···12111150

reply to Oleg