Iomega launches 320GB eSATA drive

Just a warning that peeps looking out for eSATA (external serial ATA) gear shouldn't have to wait too terribly much longer -- you know it's hitting critical mass when Iomega starts launching retail gear sporting the interface. Their new 320GB eSATA drive even comes bundled with an eSATA PCI card as well as Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces, should the eSATA thing not actually be your bag (or the machine you're temporarily using not have eSATA). It'll cost you $239, but at least you can get it precisely now, availability pending.

[Via The Reg]

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 12:00PM]

PCI is 133MB/s.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 12:06PM]

I'm guessing (hoping) they just slipped on the 1 key.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 1:09PM]

So is eSATA much faster than Firewire 800?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 9:54PM]

On top of that, Pci would be far less than that - poor overheads etc... But as a fallback, its ok.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 12:19PM]

eSATA is 187.5MBps while PCI is 133MBps? Thats not so bad is it? Most hard disks can't do more than 40 MBps anyway.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 12:26PM]

Wrong!! The PCI Bus runs a Frequency of 33Mhz. Transfer Rates are up to 264 MBps and not 133Mbps heres the link, i knew there would be someone all over this haha. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci.htm

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 12:52PM]

Why wait at all? Just get an e-sata enclosure (sold by newegg, for example).

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 12:52PM]

Good thing they didn't call it a ZIP drive ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 1:03PM]

Nowhere in the specs or in the article does it state that this device supports Firewire of any kind. Both sites compare eSATA to Firewire.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 6th 2006 10:46PM]

While it is 133mpbs, keep in mind that is shared throughout the whole PCI bus. That means all the PCI expansion cards are competing for bandwith.

See: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci.htm

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 1:11PM]

Never mind, I read the link...

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 4:34PM]

Re gary - that's what I did about 2 weeks ago. 7200 RPM Hitachi HDD, 250GB, + nice eSATA/USB2 enclosure w/user replaceable fan, for ~$125. No PCI card, but it runs ridiculously cool.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2006 6:56PM]

Got a Calvary esata/usb2 300GB drive from newegg a month ago for $120. Works great with my SA8300.

[NavParker Posted Aug 27th 2006 12:37AM]

Snazzy case. To bad it's ruined by the letters "Iomega".