Difference - eSATA and SATA for Ext. Enclosure

I'm getting a new HDD, so I will put my current HDD in an ext. enclosure - but my E1505 only has the SATA interface which limits my options severely for a USB External Enclosure.
Anybody knows what e-SATA means and if it will work with my SATA drive??
Also, does anybody know of any cheap SATA 2.5" enclosures - the ones at newegg are all $30..with tax and shipping $40 which is expensive, since it's for a 40GB HDD - for $40 I can buy a new 2.5" 40GB HDD

 

you would probably be better off just setting the HD up as your main drive, pop it out for emergency back up use, then spend your money on a larger external drive

 

eSATA simply means external SATA. some enthusiast level desktop motherboards are starting to come with an external SATA port as it is much faster than usb or firewire (however in my exp eSATA is not so "plug-n-play"). this external port is the same thing as an internal SATA port on the motherboard.

as far as your situation, i would highly recommend you dont go with a cheap enclosure, as you can get more use out of it in the future with multiple drives (as you need them + swapping drives in and out). also, the cheaper enclosures get hotter + are more prone to drive failures. ultimately your best bet would probably be to buy a larger 3.5" hd and leave the 40 gig in your laptop for the os.

the most common solution i see people go with is:

one of these hard drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4&Description=perpendicular+recording&Ntk=all

one of these enclosures:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...53 2000090092&Subcategory=92&Manufactory=1453

i have a 320gb and the black nexstar 3 that does eSATA... works great. if you want to skimp a little just cut out the eSATA and go for the usb only version (since you prob dont have eSATA anyway).

 

I started this thread a while ago:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=57493

It hasn't been updated in a while, though. I have one of the CoolGear enclosures, and it works well.