eSATA external hard drive enclosure that supports power from combo USB port?

I got my enclosure from Geeks, ran HD Tune on all of my drives, is there a driver I need to download or is my enclosure + drive running at normal transfer speeds?

Corsair Force F240 SSD 240GB
Min: 112.6
Max: 169.6
Avg: 136.4
Access: 0.250
Burst: 156.7

Seagate Momentus XT (hybrid) 500GB
Min: 17.1
Max: 106.9
Avg: 71.3
Access: 16.5
Burst: 127.9

Fujitsu 160GB via eSATA enclosure:
Min: 32.4
Max: 58.0
Avg: 47.6
Access: 17.8
Burst: 83.2

Patriot XT Rage (thumbdrive) 16GB
Min: 23.3
Max: 27.5
Avg: 25.5
Access: 0.873
Burst: 23.9

Averages comparison
SSD > Hybrid > eSATA > USB
136.4 > 71.3 > 47.6 > 25.5

 

so you only tested the Fujitsu 160GB in the eSATA enclosure?
If so, then your Corsair which is in your laptop is running at SATA I mode because that SSD should be way over 200MBps. Maybe your laptop is in ATA mode and not on AHCI.

 

Many laptop eSATA ports are limited to eSATA first generation 1.5Gbps (even when internal ports support second gen 3Gbps), this will limit eSATA enclosure speed to 130Mb/sec approx.

You can check generation/speed of your eSATA port in Intel Rapid Storage console

 

Just a noob question for you guys...
From what i understand a standard external enclosure with a standard eSata port doesn't support the power supply if connected to a pc with a Power-over-esata port, right?
If so...the only enclosure that fits our needs is the DeLock.

I was wondering if there is a cable that can be connected, providing also the power, on a side to the power-over-esata port of the pc, and on the other side directly to an external, "naked", 2,5" hard disk...

 

Correct.

So basically connect one end to a regular SATA + power on the HDD and the other end into a powered eSATA port? That would be nice so you can just connect any HDD to it for any number of reasons without having to load it into the case.

This might be what you're talking about?

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Over-eSATA-cable-Adapter/dp/B002Y31U32

or this (seems better quality)
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-GoFlex-Upgrade-Powered/dp/B003IT6PH2

Bad reviews are basically from people not knowing what they're doing. Some people say it doesn't work, probably because they don't have a powered eSATA port, and others say it won't power a 3.5" HDD, duh! 3.5" HDD's are 12V and require substantially more power, 2.5" are 5V.

About same price as geeks.com enclosure though (with shipping):

http://www.amazon.com/eSATA-Aluminum-External-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B0036BISSQ

 

That's exactly what i was searching for!! thank you
It could be considered a "raw" docking station

The enclosure is obviously a more complete product, indispensable if you consider mobility...
But as a plus this cable can be useful to swap rapidly from hard disks.

 

Take note that cable is pretty bad solution if you plan to connect/disconnect it from hard drive often.
Instead of eSATA connectors, connectors on the drive are not rated for many insertion cycles (only about 50 cycles required by SATA standard), so they could fail pretty quickly if connected/disconnected often.
Compare that with 5000+ cycles required for proper eSATA connectors.

 

I would find it useful though if you want to image a drive, secure erase an SSD, check a drive for issues (viruses, malware, etc). I wouldn't use it for frequent attachments either, well unless you left the sata part installed on the drive, but if you do that, then just get an enclosure.

 

Uh...i didn't know anything about that, thank you for the advice!!
Maybe i could buy anyway one of that cable, i always wanted to build myself an enclosure out of wood or something like that
and a cable like this can be useful.
Even better would be a cable that has the eSatap and the usb (so you can choose what to use) and the Sata attached to the drive, but maybe i'm asking too much.

 

That's a bulls***, right?
I didn't realize that eSatap can be connected to a usb port, so there's no need to have also a usb cable...
I'm not sure...is this right?

 

The enclosure you can use either USB or SATA by choosing either cable. But you can't use an eSATA powered in a USB port.

Although making your own enclosure is something I didn't even consider either. That would be nice to build your own customized and cool looking one.

 

Ops, sorry but i'm a bit confused with all this kind of connectors
However that's a pity...

So if someone wants to make it's own enclosure...there's no way to have both connectors in it, esatap and usb?
I'll send a mail to DeLock, maybe they sell as a standalone product the card that's inside their enclosure.

 

Just buy then enclosure and remove the card. Probably cost just as much.

 

I know i'm a bit annoying but...
Maybe a "solution" could be to use a "eSata to USB 3.0" adapter!!
So we could use all the enclosures that came out with a usb3.0 interface...

I didn't find an adapter like the one i have in mind, in practice i'm talking about "the opposite" of this adapter:
USB 3.0 to eSATAp Adapter from Addonics

Could this be a good idea?

 

I'm sure something like that will surface once USB 3.0 devices start to proliferate the market to satisfy all us users of the "slow" eSATA interface.

 

I hope so!!
With this combination (Usb 3.0 enclosure + ipotetical adapter) we colud have insured the maximum "universality" (usb 3.0 is compatible with 2.0) and also the speed we need when we have an eSata available.

 

With USB you can never achieve same level of nativeness as with eSATA.
USB HDD is a translation layer, it strips a lot of functions (like OS system drive, native commands like secure erase, passwords, SMART, temps, etc).
eSATA is not a translation layer, it's direct plug-in.

And if you think USB 3.0 is faster, remember that next gen SATA will arrive pretty soon, I think not much later then USB 3.0 reaches maturity.

 

Except for the possibly sticky bit about power, sure. I'm pretty sure that USB3.0 provides more power than eSATAp (which is based off of USB2.0), so a USB3.0 enclosure might require more power than is available over a combo eSATA/USB port... at least until they get around to upgrading those to the USB3.0 power standard as well, if they ever do. That's harder to say, as many might argue that you might as well just leave it as a regular USB3.0 port at that point.

 

eSATAp simply shares connector with USB, it's not "based" or constrained by USB, so more power is provided (in eSATAp connector mode).

Even on usual USB, "dumb" chargers (no data) could provide up to 1000mA (according to USB charge specification).

 

Oh, I didn't know that USB could provide more power when it's not also transferring data. I'd figured that the power limits on USB, whether transmitting data or not, were fixed. Good to know for future reference.

 

Just FYI, the enclosure on geeks.com is currently on sale for $10.99

 

eSATAp for notebooks is still only designed to power up to USB 2.0 specs which is 500mA (@ 5v). Desktop variants on the otherhand should be able to handle 12v 3.5" devices.

 

You are thinking about original eSATAp and 12V eSATAp (2.0)
While it's true that second one could power 3.5" drives and first one can not, it because of lack of 12V contacts which 3.5" drives require.
eSATAp is not "designed to power up to USB 2.0 specs". When connector is operating in eSATAp mode, it is not constrained by USB specs and could provide more power.
I remind you also, that even according to USB 2.0 specs, max power is 1000mAh, as long as data transfer is not used - because USB connector part designed to provide that much (and data transfer is not used in eSATAp connector mode, only power contacts are).

 

Hm. Looking into it, it appears that to supply full power, you need to actually short out the two data pins, which converts the USB port to full power mode while disabling all data functions. I guess the question at that point resides in the port controller; is it "smart" enough to realize that the eSATA portion is separate and still allow data communication through that side while providing full power through the USB side. We might also be approaching the electrical limits of the port itself; it might not be able to handle providing full power through the USB side while still providing data through the eSATA side. The controller portion at least can be easily updated through firmware or such-like, while the port itself is a bit more difficult.

 

I don't understand why you think it's difficult.
The way simplest eSATAp reference port design works, when eSATA plugged in, USB connector part power lines switched to "dumb" high-power mode.
It has nothing to do with USB controller whatsoever, in eSATAp mode USB part of the port used only to supply power, and USB controller is not needed at all.

I can reliably say that eSATAp supplies enough power for 2.5" HDD, while same HDD could not be fully powered from ordinary USB port.

 

I think the issue comes down to individual model implementation, really. I was trying to find specifications on exactly how much power eSATAp is supposed to provide, but I get bad hostname errors for the serialata.org site. This Universal eSATAp cable however, implies that not all eSATA/USB ports are capable of providing more than the 500 mA of USB 2.0 (in the footnote for the "Provide USB power from the computer to the eSATA device when connecting to EUHP"). That sounds a lot like a port controller or port design issue to me.

 

I think makers of this cable just insure that they will not be hold at fault because of manufacturers who don't implement eSATAp spec properly.
Properly designed and spec-confirming eSATAp port must provide enough power to power the HDD, that was the whole point of eSATAp standard.

 

Hi,

There will be a new eSATAp/USB2.0 enclosure from Delock :

The model number is 42483 for EU market and 4246A for the market outside EU.

It will have many improvements :

• Better quality than 42465.
• The eSATAp cable hided inside the case .
• Metal case, 3 colors are available.
• Shining & meticulous bezels design.
• Adding rubber pad for shock protection & slip stopping.
• Heat dissipating holes design.
• AL case with fillister design for PCBA correctly sliding & no components being scratched.
• Complete PCBA design to firmly hold HDD.
• Precise screw holes for HDD fixing accurately.
• Key capacitances are from Japan for strictly high quality.

The availability date is at the end of November for ODM/OEM and later for the End-Customer.

The price is not yet revealed.

 

Cool, thanks for info! +1. I like it when you can hide the cable. Much more convenient and easy to handle.

 

Thank you

 

Has anyone tried the HE-2521B with a 12.7mm drive or one that is greater than 500GB (specs state maximum 500GB, but maybe due to thickness)?

I am considering a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint for $100. 500GB isn't enough for what I need, so will probably sell my Seagate Momentus (non XT) and would rather just buy a 1TB drive to use in this enclosure otherwise a slim external 1TB drive costs ~$120-$130 and are only USB.

Edit: I just took a scale and it seems there's less than 2mm clearance at best between the 9.5mm drive and the enclosure, so looks like a 12.7mm is a no go. However, the other question is whether or not there will be issues with a drive greater than 500GB. WD has a 750GB 5400RPM 9.5mm drive for $100 and looks like Seagate has a 750GB 7200RPM 9.5mm drive ready to ship to vendors very soon for ~$100 as well. I might as well wait a bit and get the faster drive.

 

They changed the model number to 42482 (because they preferred to reserve the 4248 3 for the USB 3.0
They postponed the mass production to Jan 2011

 

How silly. Maybe I'll just go with the USB 3.0 instead, although someone posted benchmarks showing eSATA faster than USB 3.0, which is weird on two accounts. One because most eSATA is typically limited to SATA150 speeds and two, I thought USB 3.0 was supposed to be like five times faster than eSATA.

 

I may receive an engineering sample of the 42482
If arrived, I'll try to make a preview with photos

 

Thanks, much appreciated! Having a hidden cord is definitely a bonus. If it can take 12.7mm hard drives it would be even better.

 

That's interesting. I was just about to pull the trigger on this and this. Reading the previous page though makes me think that USB 3 wont have power issues unlike eSATAp and its derivatives. I really don't know, I'm not an engineer, so I'm looking for your advice guys I don't have either USB 3, or eSATAp, so whichever I choose it would be in ExpressCard 34/54 format

 

Not at all. Compared to SATA150, USB 3.0 comes out a bit over three times as fast in terms of raw throughput (4,800 Mbit/s compared to 1,500 Mbit/s). Compared to SATA300, it would be only a bit over 1 and a half times. And that's before you start taking into account the extra overhead that is involved with USB. With USB 2.0, they usually only managed to get up to about 50-60% of that theoretical maximum transfer rate. Supposedly after overhead, USB 3.0 should be capable of 400 MB/s, which is more like 80% of the theoretical maximum, so maybe the problems to date are poor drivers. Also, I think eSATA is more commonly linked to the speed of the SATA interface already installed in your notebook, so if your notebook has SATA300 capability, your eSATA is likely going to be the same (being as it would probably be linked to the same bus), so eSATA at SATA300 speeds are probably a little more common than you think.

 

Theoretical USB3.0 speed is 4.8Gb/s
Theoretical eSATA speed is 3.0Gb/s
but in case of an enclosure that have SATA SDD, the interface is a SATA so even if connected to computer by USB3.0 it will be bottlenecked by the SATA coonector at the SDD side, so it will be limited also to the 3Gb/s.
Even more, all the reviews that i saw tell that the eSATA was faster than the USB3.0, and they think it is because of the translation load between the 2 different protocols at the 2 different sides.

 

If you're putting anything other than an SSD in the enclosure, USB3 is useless. Most spinning storage drives can't saturate an eSATA interface. No reason to not stick with eSATAp, especially if getting USB3 would require getting a new notebook. Not to mention an eSATA enclosure runs the drive just like an internal one. USB3 requires a translation from SATA->USB.

 

Conclusion :
If you use a SATA HDD/SDD enclosure, then connecting it via eSATA port is better than USB3 port.
USB3 could be good for other applications than a SATA enclosure.

 

What do you guys think of this enclosure? The description doesnt specify but the pic included of the cables looks like it includes a power over eSATA cable to me...

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Aluminu...f=sr_1_11?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1291280915&sr=1-11

 

Guys,

I was going through this post and had some doubts...

If I opt for a hard disk enclosure that has Esatap connectivity,will it have enough power to run a 1tb hard disk considering the esatap port has 5v supply..
If it does support then which one is better a 2.5 or 3.5 " internal HDD..

How do we check if the power supply is 5V or 12V? I have this port in my laptop..(Should be 5V right?)

Also anyone knows the limitations of esatap regarding the RPM speeds and may be some other features?

 

eSATAp won't run a 3.5" drive; at least not off a notebook. There are desktop eSATAp ports (not combination USB/eSATA ports) that may, those actually have the 12V rails necessary to run the (physically) larger drives. So the question becomes what size is said 1 TB drive? If it's a 2.5" drive, it will probably run.

EDIT - clarification; yes, a notebook will only have 5V eSATAp or combination USB/eSATA ports.

 

So esatap in a laptop can support only 2.5" HDDs..K fine


Can anyone confirm the maximum size that it can support?May be anyone who is using it currently!

This link might help someone!

Power Over eSATA USB eSATAp 2.5" HDD Enclosure USB2.0 - eBay (item 160511362807 end time Dec-26-10 01:52:41 PST)

 

There is no limit on maximum capacity (except very high limits imposed by SATA interface itself).
As long as drive is 2.5" form factor, it will work.

 

Check this link out!


eSATAp Application

 

Hmm, looks interesting. Good find. It's not clear, but from the description it sounds like it should work. For $8 not a huge investment to try it out. Although I see a powerplug connector to a USB, so maybe that's required for either USB or SATA use.

Laptops won't support 12V eSATAp. They will only support 5V. And doesn't matter size as other poster stated, if it's 2.5" it will work. The 12v is for larger 3.5" desktop drives that require the extra power to spin the drives. From my understanding, while USB 2.0 supplies 500mA current for power+data, if it's used solely for power purposes it can supply up to 1000mA which is good for eSATAp since many drives can be borderline 500mA current draw, won't be an issue for eSATAp.

 

I'd guess that it does not support power over eSATA, since it's not specified. You'll most likely need to use the USB power connector whether you use USB or eSATA connections.

 

the picture of the cable suggests that it use a seperate USB cable to draw power from USB port so it is not eSataP. That said, if you have enough USB ports, who cares other than it looks a bit ugly.

 

Where did you hear that USB 2.0 could supply 1000ma power only?
While it is probably true because most laptops have more than on USB port. Mine has 4 and since the laptop needs to supply a total of 2000ma for all four ports I suspect it could supply 1000ma or more if only one or two ports are used. If each port happens to be limited to 500ma I suppose you could parallel two USB ports to get more current.

As far as most drives borderlining 500ma I don't believe that's correct especially with the larger 7200 RPM drives. I have in front of me a Toshiba HDD2D30 100GB SATA drive that says it requires 1000ma. I haven't found a spec for eSATAp as far as what type of power it should be capable of handing.

FYI according to Wikipedia, USB 3.0 ports should supply at least 700ma of power so if you have USB 3.0 you might have enough power for the larger SATA drives.