Active Media Products ships 100MB/sec eSATA flash drives, shrugs off USB 3.0 noise
By Darren Murph 
posted March 22nd 2010 8:31PM
posted March 22nd 2010 8:31PM
Who needs 200MB/sec when you've got... 100MB/sec? Nah, Active Media Products' newest flash drives aren't quite as snappy as those few USB 3.0 keys that are making their way out, but for folks who aren't quite ready to upgrade (or are just dying to make use of that otherwise empty eSATA port), this here unit is the ticket. Outfitted with 16GB or 32GB of MLC NAND memory, these units boast sequential read and write speeds up to 100MB/sec and 55 MB/sec, respectively, and in case you cruise over to a legacy machine that lacks eSATA, a mini USB 2.0 port is also provided for universal access. 'Course, a USB cable is still required in the eSATA port for power, but hey, at least you'll be "with the times," right? Check 'em right now on Amazon for $69.95 and $109.95 in order of mention.
too bad I only have one port on my comp...and none on my laptop or any other computer that I use
Yeah, I've noticed a large lack of eSATA ports on many devices.
Only one on my desktop :(
This thing would be good for Readyboost or other SSD-style uses intended to speed up general desktop performance, but otherwise is crap due to lack of proliferation of eSata ports, so unless you have a real fear of opening up your computer to drop in an SSD (which is probably cheaper and better - TRIM support, etc), I wouldn't bother.
I have an eSata port and i like it. I hope it becomes a trend and then they get cheaper.
I like the sound of 100MB/s with current tech.
Are practical speeds close enough to the theoretical speeds with this device?
This is the same thing OCZ Throttle eSATA+USB drives did. I used to have one of those. Pity they got discontinued.
Once again, the commenting system is broken.
@Information Central You're comment affirms.
"You are comment affirms"?
Looks like it'll only post single-line comments now.
Even if eSATA's a slapdash extension of the internal connector, the obvious maneuver would've been to integrate power from the internal power bus.
Let's try a comment that
has two lines.
Disappointing that it's not passive.
The fact that this requires a USB cable for power makes it rather dumb, USB 3.0 is much more convenient.
@reallynotnick You have powered eSATA ports... but this particular device doesn't seam to use it, or Engadget is throwing assumption that it doesn't use the eSATA plug power.
Usually powered eSATA ports are embed USB ports as well, (combo port).
eSata is just buggy to begin with - especially if your system isn't configured for AHCI already. Even with AHCI enabled, sometimes you'll have to reboot the computer after plugging in an eSata device to have it recognized.
@Devhux
You may want to consult your hardware manual, or perhaps you have cheap hardware. I've had no problem with consumer grade eSata ports being hot swappable, across various vendors, and my company has not had any problems with enterprise grade hardware.
eSata is just buggy to begin with - especially if your system isn't configured for AHCI already. Even with AHCI enabled, sometimes you'll have to reboot the computer after plugging in an eSata device to have it recognized.
Clark
cissp
USA