Macally G-S350SUAB2 manual Frequently Asked Questions

Page 16

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1, What are SATA, SATA I, SATA II, eSATA any way? How are they related to G-S350SUAB2 enclosure?

A1: SATA stands for Serial ATA, in contrast to old Parallel ATA (IDE, EIDE, ATA and ATAPI) technology. SATA starts with 1.5Gb/s specification, and evolves to 3.0Gb/s specification, which is commonly referred to as SATA II. Hence, original SATA 1.5Gb/s is called SATA I to distinguish with SATA II 3.0Gb/s.

Initially SATA was designed as an internal or inside-the-box interface technology for storage device like HDD. Both SATA I and SATA II hard drives use plug and receptacle interface with “L” shaped key as shown below.

This connectors and cable(flat) with “L” shaped key support both SATA 1.5Gb/s and 3.0Gb/s, however the cable length is limited to 1m(around 3.3 feet) maximum. When this manual was written, majority of SATA ports provided by computers or add-on SATA host adapters are the receptacle with “L” shaped key.

As shown below, it is more and more common to find a new type of SATA receptacle in the system or PCI/ExpressCard host card and plug(without “L” shaped key), called eSATA. eSATA becomes a standard for external SATA peripherals. Our G-S350SUAB2 has eSATA port built in. Depending on the type of SATA port you have in the computer, please get the proper SATA cable to connect them.

16

Image 16
Contents Ieee 1394A and 1394B FireWire/Hi-Speed USB2.0/eSATA Contents About This Guide Hard Drive Enclosure G-S350SUAB2System Requirements Safety Precautions Package ContentsOn Transportation Hardware Basic Hardware Installation Page Page Page FireWire and USB Connection for MacOS 9.2 and MacOS Software Installation for PC Sata Connection for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/WindowsClick on Disk Management Write a signature to the new drive, click Next Step Frequently Asked Questions Page USB