eSATA
SATA is very effective for external storage applications, and the external SATA (eSATA) cable and
connector application (detailed in the SATA 2.5 specification) provides a physically secure and fast
connection for external hard drives. With up to 3 Gb/s data transfers, this interface provides a high
data transfer rate suitable for hard drives, home networking, digital video, and home entertainment
devices such as set-top boxes and personal video recorders. Some systems can be configured to boot
off an external eSATA drive.
eSATA and internal SATA cables and connectors cannot be used interchangeably. This is important
since eSATA cables and connectors are designed for 5000 insertion and removal cycles while SATA
cables and connectors are designed for only 50 insertion and removal cycles. To achieve eSATA
connectivity with an external SATA drive, an eSATA PCI card must be installed on the host computer.
Note: SATA cables with an L-shaped connector are incompatible with WD eSATA devices.