eSATA - When will apple include it?

[purelithium]

I've been contemplating large storage solutions for my macbook, as it's going to replace my Desktop PC when I go back to school this fall. I formerly used eSATA enclosures for my 2 300GB hard drives to hold my data. Now, I only have the USB option on them for transferring data. This is VERY frustrating, because of the low transfer rate of USB compared to eSATA.

When do you think Apple will include this high-speed connector to their computers?

I for one would have LOVED one on my MacBook. but I figure it's more along the lines of a MBP feature.

Any other thoughts?

 

[kevin.rivers]

You can get PCIe eSata cards now (I think). I wonder if they would work in the Mac Pro.... might need some drivers.

Apple may try to introduce it first, when? Who know.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

If you mean MacBook Pro, you can get an ExpressCard eSATA card that works with the Mac right now.

For the Power Mac G4/G5, there are PCI (and PCIe) eSATA cards that work right out of the box with no drivers.

 

[Chaszmyr]

I"m not an expert on hard drives, but I don't think Apple sees any pressing need to support eSATA. For high-speed external transfer, they use Firewire 800, which I realize is significantly slower than eSATA in theory, but I believe it is way more than fast enough for a single external drive, and even fast enough for small RAID arrays. For anything faster, Apple makes you buy a Mac Pro and a Fiber Channel card.

It seems Tempo makes eSATA cards for Mac in both PCI-X and PCIe formats, but that wouldn't help you with your MacBook.

 

[kevin.rivers]

If you mean MacBook Pro, you can get an ExpressCard eSATA card that works with the Mac right now.

For the Power Mac G4/G5, there are PCI (and PCIe) eSATA cards that work right out of the box with no drivers.

Those PCIe cards would work in the Mac Pro I am guessing, that is what I am referring to (thinking out loud as to the possibilities of buying a Mac Pro)

 

[purelithium]

For the Power Mac G4/G5, there are PCI (and PCIe) eSATA cards that work right out of the box with no drivers.

Or you could just buy one of the eSATA ports that go in the back of PCs (I think Macs have the same type of back) and hook it up to the internal SATA, and boom, you have eSATA.


Also, I'm not wanting eSATA for my MacBook, because unless I find another header inside the MB, I don't think it's going to happen. I wonder if the Combo/Superdrives are sata... *starts to think about disconnecting the optical drive to create a home-grown eSATA*

 

[michaeldmartin]

No hard drives today can go as fast as pretty much any of the standards anyway, so why, exactly, does this matter?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Or you could just buy one of the eSATA ports that go in the back of PCs (I think Macs have the same type of back) and hook it up to the internal SATA, and boom, you have eSATA.


Also, I'm not wanting eSATA for my MacBook, because unless I find another header inside the MB, I don't think it's going to happen. I wonder if the Combo/Superdrives are sata... *starts to think about disconnecting the optical drive to create a home-grown eSATA*

Nope, optical drives are PATA. Only one company makes SATA optical drives right now, and they're not for notebooks.

 

[purelithium]

No hard drives today can go as fast as pretty much any of the standards anyway, so why, exactly, does this matter?

Raptors do.

Seagate 7200.10 drives do.

And ALL harddrives max out even the fastest firewire. I don't care if it doesn't use the entire bandwidth all the time, I want to at least transfer data faster than 400mbit/s... Do you know how long it takes to transfer 260ish GB of data on Firewire? A long ****ing time.