[Pc_Support] External SATA bracket ($9), external SATA enclosure/power ($35)

[Bryan J. Smith]

Derek Konigsberg <octo at logicprobe.org> wrote:
> I'm definitely finding external-SATA interesting now that I'm
> starting to hear about it.  I even did some quick googling, and
> it looks like it may actually support cable lengths up to 2m.

Or so they claim.  I'd try to stick to under the SATA standard 1m. 
SAS supports up to 8m, although I think only 1m if you use a SATA
drive to a SAS controller.

> What really makes this attractive is that it finally gives us
> the ability to support external storage using a "real" drive
> interface without using uber-expensive drives and/or
> enclosures.

Well, my point is that it's under $10 for a SATA bracket.  I have two
(2) unused SATA ports on my mainboard, so I might as well put one in.

>From there, it's $20 or so for an AC/DC adapter, or around $40 for an
enclosure with an AC/DC adapter.

> Until now, you basically just had various forms of SCSI and
> Fibre Channel as options in this role.  (and no, I don't 
> consider USB or FW as "real drive interfaces", even if I must
> admit that FW probably does have decent performance)

Actually, IEEE1394 FireWire _is_ designed as a block interface, with
direct device-to-device transfers.  I have used a hard drive directly
with a camera, as well as driven a camera from a PC, and even used a
camera to drive a DVD Recorder set-top (and vice-versa).

USB is more like ATA, dumb and end-device to memory transfers only.

> Of course we still probably have the classic 1
> drive-per-connection problem of SATA (and IDE in general, if
> you want decent performance), but it is definitely a step in
> the right direction.

SATA is "dumb" ATA, so that's unavoidable.

SAS is SCSI-2 atop of physical SATA, so it has multi-target, hubs,
"trunking" (4 or 8 channels), etc...
   
> (though this problem likely becomes bigger for external storage
> than internal storage)

I'm just hoping SAS takes off sooner than later.  When it does,
you'll see a lot of external SAS hardware that is also rated for SATA
use (even if at shorter distance).  Kinda like how SCSI components
came down in price after it became popular for external.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith     Professional, Technical Annoyance
b.j.smith at ieee.org      http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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*** Speed doesn't kill, difference in speed does ***