# eSATA: pretty much dead now?



## 80251 (May 20, 2022)

I've noticed motherboards and cases don't include eSATA connectors anymore, so is eSATA pretty much dead now thanks to USB 3.0 and USB3.1?


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 20, 2022)

in a word. yes


----------



## Steevo (May 20, 2022)

Thunder bolt anyone?


----------



## R-T-B (May 20, 2022)

Basically.  I mean you can still get brackets for it but not much point.



Steevo said:


> Thunder bolt anyone?


Different market in terms of price/performance, but yes.


----------



## Steevo (May 20, 2022)

R-T-B said:


> Basically.  I mean you can still get brackets for it but not much point.
> 
> 
> Different market in terms of price/performance, but yes.


How about FireWire.

I member building a small server the the owner demanded Firewire as it was the future, mind you it helped that Intel has just kicked AMD in the nuts but the only reason was backup performance to enclosed HDD and the amount of performance difference at the time was almost nil given the HDD performance and the fact that it still ran through a USB 2 adapter inside the enclosure.

I digress and sorry for the thread hijack, open source is always better


----------



## Totally (May 20, 2022)

Steevo said:


> How about FireWire.
> 
> I member building a small server the the owner demanded Firewire as it was the future, mind you it helped that Intel has just kicked AMD in the nuts but the only reason was backup performance to enclosed HDD and the amount of performance difference at the time was almost nil given the HDD performance and the fact that it still ran through a USB 2 adapter inside the enclosure.
> 
> I digress and sorry for the thread hijack, open source is always better



I thought firewire lived by the mac and died by the mac, and once sufficiently forgotten replaced with thunderbolt.


----------



## caroline! (May 20, 2022)

Totally dead.








Steevo said:


> How about FireWire.
> 
> I member building a small server the the owner demanded Firewire as it was the future, mind you it helped that Intel has just kicked AMD in the nuts but the only reason was backup performance to enclosed HDD and the amount of performance difference at the time was almost nil given the HDD performance and the fact that it still ran through a USB 2 adapter inside the enclosure.
> 
> I digress and sorry for the thread hijack, open source is always better


I had a case that came with a front firewire port AND a back bracket with 2 extra ports, but I was never able to use any of them because the mobos didn't had headers for it.

Never had or seen a device using firewire, to me it was like a weird USB port that had no use.


----------



## 80251 (May 20, 2022)

Way back when I had a firewire port in a Craptive Labs Soundblaster Audigy(?) I think. It was faster than USB 2.0 and I used to have an external enclosure that supported firewire but eSATA was better still.


----------



## theFOoL (May 20, 2022)

Been dead for years. Nobody I know used it


----------



## Calenhad (May 20, 2022)

eSATA is dead. USB have overtaken it in performance and beaten it to death with convenience.

Firewire kind of evolved into Thunderbolt.


----------



## theFOoL (May 20, 2022)

Calenhad said:


> Firewire kind of evolved into Thunderbolt.


Yep dot on the door there.  Just like bluray took over DVD where CD took over floppy etc I could go on lol

Update: heck there are Sata to USB Adapters with and without a pwr Adapter (ones 3.5 HDDs)  I use for laptop based 2.5


----------



## 80251 (May 20, 2022)

My eSATA enclosure for my backup HDD was purchased before USB 3.0 was commonplace and LGA775 was still a viable socket and unlike USB 2.0 it was actually useful for external HDD's. All my post LGA-775 motherboards had eSATA, except my z390, but my old Thermaltake Armor Revo has one eSATA port.


----------



## ThrashZone (May 20, 2022)

Hi,
Yep dead as a door nail as the old saying goes.


----------



## Aquinus (May 20, 2022)

Steevo said:


> Thunder bolt anyone?


I use Thunderbolt 3 for my displays. It's not bad. Cables are expensive, hardware is expensive, and finding PC motherboards that support two TB3 ports is a little rough, at least the last time I checked. TB3 works real nice if you're using a Mac or Linux with a modern kernel. I can't speak to Windows though.

All in all eSATA and TB3 aren't really comparable as TB3 is far more flexible and ubiquitous compared to eSATA.


----------



## kapqa (May 21, 2022)

still using Firewire, my favorite.


----------



## 80251 (May 21, 2022)

I thought firewire died out years ago, up to and including the later faster iterations.


----------



## Valantar (May 21, 2022)

80251 said:


> My eSATA enclosure for my backup HDD was purchased before USB 3.0 was commonplace and LGA775 was still a viable socket and unlike USB 2.0 it was actually useful for external HDD's. All my post LGA-775 motherboards had eSATA, except my z390, but my old Thermaltake Armor Revo has one eSATA port.


eSATA never gained any real traction, and was essentially abandoned as soon as USB 3.x gained traction. It's easy enough to keep your eSATA accessories in use though: get a simple eSATA to USB 3.0 adapter. I've got an ancient eSATA HDD dock that still works perfectly and is kept in service through an adapter like that. It seems like even those are harder to find than back when I bought mine though, so if you've got useful eSATA devices that you'd like to keep in service I'd recommend getting your hands on an adapter ASAP.



80251 said:


> I thought firewire died out years ago, up to and including the later faster iterations.


It did, the last Mac to have a FW port was ... pre-2012 MBP? I guess pre-trashcan Mac Pros might have kept it around for longer.


----------



## Aquinus (May 21, 2022)

Valantar said:


> eSATA never gained any real traction, and was essentially abandoned as soon as USB 3.x gained traction. It's easy enough to keep your eSATA accessories in use though: get a simple eSATA to USB 3.0 adapter. I've got an ancient eSATA HDD dock that still works perfectly and is kept in service through an adapter like that. It seems like even those are harder to find than back when I bought mine though, so if you've got useful eSATA devices that you'd like to keep in service I'd recommend getting your hands on an adapter ASAP.
> 
> 
> It did, the last Mac to have a FW port was ... pre-2012 MBP? I guess pre-trashcan Mac Pros might have kept it around for longer.


I tried using eSATA back early in my career when I was a sysadmin. It kind of worked, and when I say that I mean it worked well when it did. It was okay at the time, but given the advancements with USB tech, it really just kind of fizzled out. There were a lot of weird issues with hotplug support compared to other protocols, at least in Linux at the time. All in all, it didn't feel like the juice was worth the squeeze. A good USB 3.0 controller was good enough and was common enough. Personally, my tower has eSATA ports. I've never used them in the decade of owning the machine. USB 3.0 or 3.1 on the other hand, I use almost every day.


----------



## Valantar (May 21, 2022)

Aquinus said:


> I tried using eSATA back early in my career when I was a sysadmin. It kind of worked, and when I say that I mean it worked well when it did. It was okay at the time, but given the advancements with USB tech, it really just kind of fizzled out. There were a lot of weird issues with hotplug support compared to other protocols, at least in Linux at the time. All in all, it didn't feel like the juice was worth the squeeze. A good USB 3.0 controller was good enough and was common enough. Personally, my tower has eSATA ports. I've never used them in the decade of owning the machine. USB 3.0 or 3.1 on the other hand, I use almost every day.


Yeah, back when I got that dock (and an external 3.5" HDD and a 2.5" enclosure IIRC) I thought it was really cool and had a ton of potential - though IIRC that was before USB 3.0. Once I realized just how horrible eSATA cables were, and how unusable that 2.5" enclosure was due to needing a separate USB power cable, I quickly changed my mind. The 3.5" drive was eventually shucked and moved into my HTPC, the 2.5" enclosure was replaced, but the dock was kept in a drawer in case I needed it, and I'm glad I found those cheap adapters so that I can still use it, even if I'm still forced to deal with eSATA cabling when doing so.


----------



## The red spirit (May 22, 2022)

Calenhad said:


> eSATA is dead. USB have overtaken it in performance and beaten it to death with convenience.


Cool fact:
eSATA ports accept USB devices too


----------



## 80251 (May 22, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Cool fact:
> eSATA ports accept USB devices too


How would that work? ESATA has a unique connector, how could  you fit a USB cable of any type into it?

ESATA cables can be problematic, I had one cable that gave me nothing but connection troubles. I also don't like the shape of the cables.

As long as I keep my present case and motherboards continue to have SATA ports I won't have to ditch my powered eSATA external enclosure.


----------



## The red spirit (May 22, 2022)

80251 said:


> How would that work? ESATA has a unique connector, how could  you fit a USB cable of any type into it?


It just fits. I accidentally plugged in USB stick into eSATA once and it worked perfectly fine.


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2022)

Wasn't it dead on arrival? I mean, I've never even seen an eSATA drive, though I remember having those ports on few motherboards I had over a decade ago.



The red spirit said:


> It just fits. I accidentally plugged in USB stick into eSATA once and it worked perfectly fine.


I remember having combo USB/eSATA ports too


----------



## micropage7 (May 22, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Wasn't it dead on arrival? I mean, I've never even seen an eSATA drive, though I remember having those ports on few motherboards I had over a decade ago.
> 
> 
> I remember having combo USB/eSATA ports too


my old HP laptop has esata that works on usb too


----------



## Bones (May 22, 2022)

I have a drive with it myself, never had any issues from it. 
Always seemed to do fine but not using that connector anymore since newer boards don't have such a port on them that I've ever seen.


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2022)

Bones said:


> I have a drive with it myself, never had any issues from it.
> Always seemed to do fine but not using that connector anymore since newer boards don't have such a port on them that I've ever seen.


Get a SATA -> eSATA bracket?


----------



## Valantar (May 22, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Cool fact:
> eSATA ports accept USB devices too





80251 said:


> How would that work? ESATA has a unique connector, how could  you fit a USB cable of any type into it?
> 
> ESATA cables can be problematic, I had one cable that gave me nothing but connection troubles. I also don't like the shape of the cables.
> 
> As long as I keep my present case and motherboards continue to have SATA ports I won't have to ditch my powered eSATA external enclosure.





The red spirit said:


> It just fits. I accidentally plugged in USB stick into eSATA once and it worked perfectly fine.


Most host-side eSATA ports quickly morphed into hybrid eSATA+USB ports, as it was otherwise difficult to defend the choice of eSATA replacing a USB port on the I/O. Without this the demise of eSATA would likely have been a lot faster.


----------



## Aquinus (May 22, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Cool fact:
> eSATA ports accept USB devices too


That's eSATAp, which is basically just a eSATA/USB combo port. Normal eSATA does not work that way and eSATAp is actually newer than run of the mill eSATA. What you're seeing is something like this.





Not this:




eSATA has less room and no pins on the bottom of the connector and USB devices just simply don't fit. eSATAp on the other hand is a slightly bigger connector receptacle (that can fit USB devices,) with your run of the mill USB 2.0 pins on the opposite side of the connector and the extra diff pairs being in back for 3.0 support if it has it.


----------



## FavoriteColorIsBlue (Jun 2, 2022)

I stopped lurking just to make an account to respond to this.

Yes, eSATA is dead lol


----------

