New
#11
typo.
You need to use a internal HD.
Whilst there is no difference in the functionality and speed of an ESATA port and a standard SATA port, the similarity ends there. By its very nature, an ESATA port is designed to connect an external hard drive to the system in much the same way as a conventional USB ext. drive. However, a drive connected to an ESATA port operates at the same speed as it would were it connected to an internal SATA port. There is one exception, and that is a drive that is connected to an ESATA port, whether externally or internally, cannot be bootable.
okay but lets say I have two hard drives connected directly to SATA ports on a desktop. would both be recognized as internal? Another variation. Lets say that I have an eSATA port directly connected to a SATA port and from the eSATA port a hard drive connected to it. The eSATA simply means external in this case and would therefore be seen as a regular internal drive too would it not?
I guess where I'm getting confused is the fact that I don't understand the difference between SATA and eSATA. From my research it appears that only the connector is a bit different but otherwise is the same connection. Can someone verify or tell me otherwise? If it is a different type of connection all together then I understand but if it is simply a sata connection made externally then what is the big deal?
Sata = internal.
eSata = External.
You can install Windows to a any type of external HD.
yes I understand that you can't install to external but shouldn't eSATA be recognized as internal? That is what I'm getting at. I always understood eSATA and SATA to be the same type of connection meaning Windows wouldn't known whether one is internal or one was external.
It's a moot point because the hdd can only transfer info as fast as it can read or write and except for a short burst of speed as the cache is read, I have yet to see an external hdd that can read or write at a sustained speed much higher than 50 MB/second.. so it really doesn't whether an external is connected via eSATA or USB. Sure the specs will say 1.5, 3.0, or even 6 Gb/s for eSATA but the HDD itself can't read or write at a speed that even approaches the max for USB