MacNoob

I just installed a Silicon Image Sil3132 SATALink express card controller and attached a LaCie 400GB external eSATA drive. I can’t believe how rippin’ fast this thing is. I did a complete SuperDuper backup using the new configuration and the whole thing (90+ Gigs) only took ten minutes! The data rate SuperDuper reported was 358MB per second!! Thats right PER SECOND! Not megabits, megaBYTES! I’ve never witnessed anything so fast on a home setup. I have a 4 TB SAN at work that doesn’t transfer data at these rates. The sweet part about this is how inexpensive it is. The external eSATA drive I’m using was only $35 more than the standard USB model of the same size. I’ve done a little investigating and all the major PC manufacturers offer models with eSATA ports and PCIx cards are typically less than $50 for two port setups that are capable of RAID1 and RAID0. The only drawback is the eSATA cable. All the ones I’ve seen are relatively short (the longest I’ve found is 1 m) and not very pliable. A small concession. I’ll never buy a plain USB or firewire external hard disk again!