If you are looking at getting an external hard drive or any external device then you might be confused about which interface type is best. This is perfectly natural considering how many options there are. Whenever new technology comes around those of us that aren’t geeks or technicians tend to have a hard time making a choice. Hopefully, what follows will help ease the decision you have to make. Currently there are three major types of external interfaces to plug devices into. You have the ever proven and reliable usb 2.0, the new usb 3.0, and external Sata or ESata as it’s called. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as reliability. Do keep in mind that data transfer rates also differ between the three.
First off, let’s compare the two usb 3.0 is the data transfer rate. The original usb 3.0 is aiming to blow 2.0 out of the water due to its estimated 3.2 to 4 Gbps transfer speed.
Usb
However, the amount of USB 3.0 devices available are still few and far between as it has only been recently made available. As time goes on expect the amount of available devices to increase rapidly. ESata on the other hand is a handy alternative to USB 2.0. Currently its transfer speed is 3 times as fast as USB 2.0, which puts it at around 1.4 Gbps. The only downside to this is that it requires its own power connecter in order to function. If you’re desktop does not have an ESata port you don’t have to worry. There are many expansion cards that add ESata ports to your machine and allow you to use the external technology. Laptop owners can buy add-on cards as well but with a reduced number of ports due to card size limitations.
So which one of these is the better choice? Well it depends entirely on your usage needs. USB is a proven and reliable technology and let’s face it; it doesn’t take long to transfer a presentation or Word document to print. On the other hand, external hard drives and burners will perform better on USB 3.0 and ESata. In the end, the choice is up to you. When thinking about external components the three primary connection methods are USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and ESata. USB is a proven and easy to use technology that is used almost everywhere in the world. ESata is a bit rarer but still proven and reliable. In the end, the choice you make should be based on your needs and not what’s popular.
Comparison of USB 2.0, 3.0 and ESata For Your External Needs