SATA-IO to Simplify Power Delivery for External SATA Devices with Power Over eSATA

[malware]

Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the consortium in charge of the SATA interface, today announced its Power Over eSATA initiative. SATA-IO has begun work on a new specification that will provide power to external SATA (eSATA) devices without the need for a separate power connection. Today, eSATA devices require an external power adapter to supply the necessary voltage for operation. Led by the organization's Cable and Connector group, the specification is targeted to provide power for a single drive directly from the host system using the Power Over eSATA cable. Key benefits will be to maintain compatibility with the existing eSATA connector form factor and retain high performance at the current maximum interface transfer rate of 3Gb/s. Power Over eSATA solutions are expected to be available on the market as soon as the second half of 2008.

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[cjoyce1980]

some WD HDD come with a combi cable and the HDD gets its power from the sata port on the mobo. so i guess this aint really news, just that they have decided to do it the WD way

 

[TheLostSwede]

Uhm, no they don't. They have a special adaptor which I think they stopped using that was meant to make it easier to attach SATA drives when most PSU's didn't have SATA power connectors.
This is all about eSATA - e for external - and no-one has a power solution for those as yet. There are some dodgy eSATA/USB cables for some 2.5in HDD's but there isn't enough power for a 3.5in drive using USB.
This is something that should've happened when the initial eSATA standard was developed, but as always...
Same as it would be great if USB could do say 12V/2A or something like that, but alas...

 

[cjoyce1980]

Uhm, no they don't. They have a special adaptor which I think they stopped using that was meant to make it easier to attach SATA drives when most PSU's didn't have SATA power connectors.
This is all about eSATA - e for external - and no-one has a power solution for those as yet. There are some dodgy eSATA/USB cables for some 2.5in HDD's but there isn't enough power for a 3.5in drive using USB.
This is something that should've happened when the initial eSATA standard was developed, but as always...
Same as it would be great if USB could do say 12V/2A or something like that, but alas...

the sata cable that still exists and works on all WD HDD

 

[Dangle]

SATA FTW! USB/Firewire FTL!

 

[cool_recep]

eSata was the fastest on our tests at the CHIP Magazine Tuırkey...

Nice news but they are late...

 

[Batou1986]

the sata cable that still exists and works on all WD HDD

that cable provides no power its a "secure connect" cable there made so they don't fall out so easy i have one and and use it so i can confirm that it does not power the harddrive

 

[panchoman]

good move from SATA-IO.. though i wish it would've been out earlier.

 

[kwchang007]

This also may help push laptops to building in e-sata ports, because think about that's who's going to use external hard drives the most for meetings, and backup of information on a trip etc.

 

[Mussels]

this is good. i use E-sata a lot (the speed is a life saver with 100+GB of data per use)

 

[qwerty_lesh]

what if u were silly enough to connect a esata + powerd cable into an enclosure that doesnt support esatapower, heh wouldnt it short the enclosure out?
they are keeping the same design in mind right? how can they add powerd support unless the origional esata design allowed by having unused pins/lines/circuits pleh. to power a full 3.5' drive through the sata connctor w/o usin the sata power connector on the hdd end, it seems very unlikely to me. time will tell eh.