The difference between SATA II and eSATA
Jan 9th, 2008 by Jay Howerter
Recently I needed to add more storage to my movie drive on my Media Center. I purchased a MyBook Home edition instead of an internal drive. I first tried to connect the drive via USB. I then discovered that Windows doesn’t let USB drives be converted to dynamic disks which are necessary for a spanned volume. Fortunately, the MyBook has an eSATA port. So, I went to Computer Deli to get an eSATA cable. I purchased one, hooked it up and the drive wasn’t recognized. After some further research and a replacement drive, I discovered that the cable I bought, which was labeled eSATA, was in fact a SATA II “I” style. They are electrically identical, but physically different. The eSATA cable has “wings” on both sides as shown below.
I informed Computer Deli of the incorrect marking, but they did not seem to mind. As usual, nothing I purchase works like it should the first time around.
Picture provided by www.satacables.com.
[...] As I have previously posted, I purchased a 500GB MyBook to expand my space. After the USB/eSATA debacle, I discovered that Western Digital had designed the MyBook to spin down after 10 minutes of [...]