External SATA HD for 3 yr old Dell laptop- waste of money?

  • Thread starter Thread starter meerkat
  • Start date Start date
M

meerkat

TD said:
I need to order a new external drive from Newegg for use with my 2004 Dell
8600 laptop, and was guessing that I probably wouldn't realize the
benefits
of an SATA unit without an SATA-enabled motherboard. Am I correct, or is
there some other upside to going ahead with the SATA over an Ultra ATA?
Click to expand...
Only if you might move the SATA on yo another
machine in the future.
 
TD said:
I need to order a new external drive from Newegg for use with
my 2004 Dell 8600 laptop, and was guessing that I probably
wouldn't realize the benefits of an SATA unit without an SATA-
enabled motherboard. Am I correct, or is there some other
upside to going ahead with the SATA over an Ultra ATA?
Click to expand...


Why not use an eSATA external enclosure that has its own
power module and cooling fan? Here are 2 products from Kingwin:
http://kingwin.com/jt35ebk.asp
http://kingwin.com/jt35eubk.asp

SIIG makes PCIe/eSATA adapter express cards:
http://siig.com/product.asp?catid=10&pid=1099

Lots of places sell cables:
http://www.firewire-1394.com/sata-cables-shielded.htm

*TimDaniels*
 
I need to order a new external drive from Newegg for use with my 2004 Dell
8600 laptop, and was guessing that I probably wouldn't realize the benefits
of an SATA unit without an SATA-enabled motherboard. Am I correct, or is
there some other upside to going ahead with the SATA over an Ultra ATA?

Thanks for any assistance on this...
Tom
 
Good point meerkat. Newegg has a 250GB SATA 16MB cache hd for $75. So it
will still work with my ATA system (backwards compatible), right?
 
Thanks, Tim. Kingwin makes some good-looking enclosures. Looks like I need a
slight education on this, though. Here's my questions:

1. Does the express card adapter allow my laptop to utilize the SATA
interface benefits?
2. My laptop only has the older PC card slot. Is there a workaround for
this?
3. If I can't put together any type of adapter configuration with my PC slot
to utilize the SATA interface, is it still possible to use (until I buy a
SATA system) a SATA drive in an ATA enclosure, connected
to my laptop with either a USB 1.0 or 1394 connection without
compatibility or heat problems?
4. Or, at the least, do I need to use a SATA enclosure?


Thanks for enlightening me,
Tom
 
TD said:
Good point meerkat. Newegg has a 250GB SATA 16MB cache hd for $75. So it
will still work with my ATA system (backwards compatible), right?
Click to expand...

No. You need an esata connector on your laptop. It's old enough that I'm
sure you don't have one. You could probably put an expansion card in your
laptop to add an esata connector. But your laptop is old enough you might
be better off to buy a new one. (new laptop, that is)

You could get an external USB 2.0 hard drive to use with your laptop, but it
would only be fast enough for infrequent backup storage use. -Dave
 
"TD" asked:
1. Does the express card adapter allow my laptop to utilize
the SATA interface benefits?
Click to expand...

Beside speed, I dunno. SATA is just faster than USB 2.0,
and you can boot from it.

2. My laptop only has the older PC card slot. Is there a
workaround for this?
Click to expand...

You could use this PCIcard/SATA adapter:
http://www.siig.com/product.asp?catid=10&pid=472

and one of these SATA I/eSATA cables:
http://www.firewire-1394.com/sata-cables-shielded.htm


3. If I can't put together any type of adapter configuration
with my PC slot to utilize the SATA interface, is it still
possible to use (until I buy a SATA system) a SATA
drive in an ATA enclosure, connected to my laptop
with either a USB 1.0 or 1394 connection without
compatibility or heat problems?
Click to expand...

Heat buildup seems to be the primary cause of USB
external HD failures if the tales of woe in the NGs are
an accurate indication. Using the USB power from a
laptop might also make for a marginal situation. I notice
that the Kingwin enclosures have USB/SATA interfaces,
though: http://kingwin.com/jt35eubk.asp

The deciding factor may be value-for-dollar,
so you should also check into prices for this stuff.

4. Or, at the least, do I need to use a SATA enclosure?
Click to expand...

You could use USB or FireWire or SATA links,
but speed, reliability and cost all come into play. It's
your call on that. SATA has the advantages of speed
and bootability. There are enclosures which don't
have a power module and/or don't have a cooling fan,
but I'd stay away from those. If portability is important,
it might just be best to wait until you get a laptop with
a SATA motherboard controller - those external
enclosures plus cables, adapters and power modules
could become a real pain, not to mention expense.

*TimDaniels*
 
Not really backwards compatible, but I found a handy little adapter that
allows you to connect a SATA HDD to your non-SATA motherboard's IDE
connectors, or...
I have a USB external HD unit. You just slide your HD into it, plug in the
cables, and plug it into your USB port on your laptop. In your case, you
could use the adapter and the USB external drive unit together with your new
SATA drive. That would do what you want nicely.

-Ed
 
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