eSATA Last modified: Friday, June 29, 2007
Short for External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment eSATA is an extension to the Serial ATA standard that enables SATA drives to be attached externally. Prior to eSATA, external hard drives were connected via USB 2.0 or FireWire. While eSATA can provide faster transfer rates than USB or FireWire, it requires its own power connector. See also "Understanding SCSI, ATA, SAS and SATA" in Webopedia's "Did You Know?" section.
External SATA: Features and Benefits of a New External Storage Interface Initially SATA was designed as an internal or inside-the-box interface technology, bringing improved performance and new features to internal PC or consumer storage. Serial ATA.org The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) is an independent, non-profit organization developed by and for leading industry companies.

Related Terms

ATA ATAPI FireWire IDE interface SAS SATA S-ATA SATA II Serial ATA Serial Attached SCSI USB 2.0

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