Re: [PLUG] Questions about eSATA

[Matt Mossholder <matt@mossholder.com>]

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Amul Shah <amul@amulz.com> wrote:

I have a JetWay Mini-Top (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107081) with an eSATA port on it. The specs page is not helpful and I'm trying to figure out a few things by probing the hardware.

1. Is the port powered?
 ÂThe eSATA port does double duty as a USB port, but I have no idea if that will put power over the eSATA line. Searching suggests that generic eSATA is not powered. The Wikipedia pages on the topic are helpful (below). Not having paid any attention to or used this kind of hardware, I haven't the slightest idea what to buy.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESATAp
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esata#eSATAp

Most eSATA enclosures supply their own power, so from that perspective, it shouldn't really matter. Beyond that, you are going to have to research your device to tell for sure.

Â

Â

2. Does the eSATA port support multiple drives off one connection (does it have a built-in port multiplier)
  A comment on newegg mentions an attached RAID 5 enclosure, but I'm guessing it is a hardware RAID 5

Port multipliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_multiplier)Âwill allow you to access up to 15 devices off of one connection if the controller supports them. Other than that, you would need something like a RAID enclosure that appears to the SATA controller as a single larger volume.

Â

thanks,
Amul

  Â--MattÂ

___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug