Tekforums
Chat => Entertainment & Technology => Topic started by: Mongoose on January 13, 2009, 08:50:52 AM
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Im looking to get an external HDD for my lappy. Initially I was thinking the obvious option of USB2.0, but reading around convinced me that eSATA would be faster. The sticking point is my lappy doesnt have eSATA, so then I thought about a Cardbus eSATA card. It turns out that what I thought was a Cardbus slot is actually an ExpressCard slot, so good thing I havent bought the card yet! Further reading indicates that Expresscard slots work either as a x1 PCI Express slot, or in "USB 2.0 mode" which as far as I can tell makes them just a glorified USB 2.0 port.
I assume that if my EC slot is doing the latter, Id be better off saving my money and just using a USB 2.0 enclosure in the first place? So the £1,000,000 question is, how can I tell if my Express card slot is a nice fast PCI Express one, or just a jumped up USB2.0 port?
Assuming that I do have a fast slot to plug it in to, does anyone know of an Expresscard eSATA controler which plays nicely with Ubuntu Linux 8.04?
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after some research, it looks like my Express card slot supports either interface, presumably depending on what you plug into it
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esata will be much faster..... but make sure you get the right kind of external drive.... because some of them are basically the same as your express slot.... they might be esata but theyre running at usb speeds :(
try to get an esata only one ;)
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thanks Knighty, Im going to go for an enclosure and put a Seagate Baracuda in it, that way I know exactly what drive is in there.
I was looking at this enclosure
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149273/show_product_reviews
its cheap, but comes with an esata cable and according to the user posted review is ~3 times as fast on eSATA as it is on USB