External HDD. USB2, Firewire or External SATA quickest?

[Morne]

Hi All

The topic says it all. Which interface for an external drive will give me quickest data transfer? USB2, Firewire or External SATA connection?
I'm using Vista64 Bit

Kind Regards,
Morne

[dlparisi]

eSATA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externa...#External_SATA

Of course total transfer speed will depend on the drive but eSATA easily has the highest transfer rate. It's basically an internal drive that's installed in a separate case.

[Morne]

thanks dlparisi
all I need now is external SATA port as my motherboard didnt come with it.
I'm sure it is just a little cable with backplate that connects to the internal SATA onto the motherboard, and then the external drive will connect to this "backplate" I'm geussing?

[dbibb]

You got it. Here's just one of the many cards you can get that'll do what you want:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816132014

[Morne]

do I need an extra card? I thought I can just use an adapter like I said. It plugs into the existing SATA controller on your motherboard. So basically what id does it just gives you the ability to plug an "internal" SATA hdd into your computer from the outside of the box. No extra card needed. Know what I'm talking about?

[RErender]

Just to add

I'm sure it is just a little cable with backplate that connects to the internal SATA onto the motherboard, and then the external drive will connect to this "backplate" I'm geussing?

There are regular SATA drives, the difference is that the eSATA ports also supply the power to the drive where as the SATA drives need an external power supply, with a SATA drive you can get a card slot plug for a few bucks and save the money you'd spend on an eSATA expansion card.

[Morne]

you mean something like this?
http://www.esatacables.com/images_pr...SS-4PCI-ES.jpg
or like this
http://www.digitaldingus.com/reviews...ta_bracket.jpg

[Morne]

I'm thinking of implementing RAID 0 for speed and use an external drive for backup in case the PC "falls" of the desk.

[RErender]

I was thinking of the second one something like this http://www.crazypc.com/products/2270.html

The first probably costs as much as the aSATA expansion card from dbibb's post, the more I think about it though the more I think I'm just being cheap.

[Morne]

I'll settle for the "cheap" option and with the money I save I'll buy extra RAM. hmmm well I'll put down a deposit for the RAM and pay it off over 36 months

[dbibb]

Agreed on the cheap option -- unless you somehow filled up all your internal sata ports. Then you could go for one of those pci ones.