A-DATA's N909 thumb drive taps into eSATA for extra oomph

It's not the first thumb drive we've seen that taps into eSATA in order to provide near-USB 3.0 speeds without a SuperSpeed socket, but A-DATA's N909 ditches that awful design scheme from years back in favor of a much more streamlined approach here. Designed to utilize that USB 2.0 + eSATA combo port that's found on most modern day laptops, the N909 doesn't require an extra USB connection for power. Internally, the four-channel design enables the stick to achieve transfer rates of up to 90MB/sec (read) and 50MB/sec (write), and it'll also function just fine in a standard USB 2.0 socket (albeit at far slower speeds). No pricing information is being handed down just yet, but they should hit shelves soon in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities.

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ADATA Launched 2-in-1 Interfaced N909

Pioneer Innovative eSATA+USB 2.0 COMBO

Taipei, Taiwan – Jul 26, 2010 - ADATA Technology, the world leader in DRAM modules and flash memory products, launched the industry first ever USB flash drive N909 featuring with the latest eSATA+USB 2.0 COMBO interface, designed to outperform conventional USB 2.0 USB drives with enhanced data transfer speed. The N909 adopts the 4-channnel technology that sets to boost data transfer rates up to 90MB/s and 50 MB/s in sequential read/write performance respectively.

One Choice、 Two-interfaced connector、 Three times Faster in transfer speed

N909 is the first innovative storage device equipped with eSATA+USB 2.0 combo interface with a single connector. Apart from using in eSATA+USB 2.0 combo port, N909 supports the easy plug-and-play on compatible platforms and is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 port. In addition, the combo interface also provides an access for charging via the USB interface which used to be considered as an inconvenient problem on the eSATA interface. Combining the revolutionary combo interface, N909 offers the best solution for transferring large amount of data compared to the preceding USB 2.0. In other words, a 4GB avi only needs 59 seconds to be read as opposed to 4.2 minutes via a conventional USB 2.0 interface1.

Bringing Fashion and Specialty Together

Fashionable design is also brought into N909, as the aluminum body and the cool lime-green LED give it a stylish and sophisticated touch. Available up to 64GB, N909 is ideal for users who need to carry large amount of data on the go and seek ultra-fast data access via the innovative eSATA+USB 2.0 combo interface with the transfer rate up to 600X.

Users can also take full advantage of ADATA's free-download value-add software UFDtoGO and the latest Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (60-day trial) to enhance both mobility and security of their ADATA USB flash drives with just few easy mouse clicks away.

1Estimates are based on an average transfer rate of 90MB/s on systems with eSATA+USB 2.0 combo port and 33MB/s via USB 2.0 interface for illustration purposes; results may vary with different platforms and software used.

[E30 Kid Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:50PM]

It's not A-DATA's fault that the prior design sucked; Powered eSATA ports were rare back in 2008.

[ma4dk Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:55PM]

@E30 Kid
Only thing missing now is an eSATA port in my MBP.

[mixit Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:57PM]

@ma4dk Been waiting for something like this. My Vaio F series has the eSATA/USB 2.0 combo and I've been wanting to take advantage :)

[ruby Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:58PM]

@E30 Kid

this is nice.. will buy one for my awesome ThinkPad

[Taylor Yes Taylor Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:23PM]

@E30 Kid
I never did understand the idea behind eSata not providing power. If it doesn't provide power, it seems just like a regular SATA port, but on the outside. Why would they design a new port that functions exactly like internal sata? If they were going to bother making a new port spec, they could have at least required that they all be powered. Thats the sole reason why I've never used eSata...
-Taylor

[whiskers Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:40PM]

@Taylor Yes Taylor

From what I've seen, external eSata ports just have a cable going from them into a SATA port on the MB. Since SATA is hot-pluggable, that is allowed.

[paul34 Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:41PM]

@Taylor Yes Taylor

That is essentially what it is. The reason is so that you could skip the conversions and overhead of USB and go straight for an interface and protocol that excels at and was designed for transferring data to and from data storage devices, like hard drives.

Benchmarks will show you that everything else being equal, drives hooked up via an esata interface is going to almost always be significantly faster than one hooked up via USB 2.0.

[LMcClure Posted Jul 26th 2010 4:14PM]

@whiskers

Most motherboards that have eSATA on the back I/O panel actually have it connected to the motherboard, and it is an independent port.

An ASRock motherboard I have, however, required a cable going from one of the SATA ports to another one SATA port near the rear, which then completed the connection to the eSATA port behind it on the I/O panel.

[SirNoDroin Posted Jul 26th 2010 5:22PM]

@E30 Kid

eSATA is nothing more than a shielded SATA cable/port combo with slightly beefed up signal power requirements in the specs on a montherboard that allows SATA hotswapping.

Most cases have a sheilded eSATA port that just goes to a standard SATA port on the motherboard...and that is totally fine, and within the specs

If OSX allowed SATA hotswapping (correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been told it doesn't) you could make a eSATA for a macpro by just taking a ESATA header, and having it lead to an empty SATA port on the mobo.

Now you all know, all confusion has been absolved, lets talk about something more interesting now.

[Information Central Posted Jul 26th 2010 7:46PM]

Still doesn't explain why eSATA doesn't have power. The standard for the external port should have integrated an extension of the internal power lines, as well as the SATA data cable. To omit that was stupid.

[Shadyman Posted Jul 27th 2010 12:29AM]

@Information Central: To have power lines and data lines together would likely cause some nasty interference, and slow things down a fair bit.

[daftrok Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:51PM]

Why aren't all ports eSATA/USB combo ports? Are they really that expensive?

[SolidSnake Posted Jul 26th 2010 2:53PM]

WANT.

[RenegadeRunner Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:02PM]

DAT LAPTOP!
Anyone got the Manufacturer/Model No.?

[slipdisc Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:07PM]

@RenegadeRunner LG XNote 510

[Ellianth Posted Jul 26th 2010 5:36PM]

@slipdisc thank you. I too was more interested in the laptop than the flash drive.

[slipdisc Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:03PM]

Great idea. Never understood why they weren't more widely adopted as a standard.

@SolidSnake your avatar is MIA

[writeinC Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:10PM]

@slipdisc
No it's not, it's just hiding under a box.

[ChrisK15 Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:07PM]

What laptop is that in the picture? Looks like maybe Samsung?

[slipdisc Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:10PM]

@ChrisK15 http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/04/lg-xnote-p510-laptop-hands-on/

[ChrisK15 Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:16PM]

@slipdisc Ah nice, thanks.

[paul34 Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:23PM]

Wow, that's some great transfer speed. Seems USB flash drives hit a wall with transfer speeds since it seemed most people were content with mediocre speed to transfer their Word documents and the like. I want SSD like speeds on these things.

[refink Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:34PM]

wheres the USB 3.0?

[Antaeus Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:42PM]

What Note/Netbook is that? It's stunning! Is it a VAIO?

[quibbs Posted Jul 26th 2010 4:43PM]

@Antaeus

I believe it's a Samsung P510

[quibbs Posted Jul 26th 2010 4:45PM]

@quibbs

Oops my bad...it
s a LG Xnote P510

[Antaeus Posted Jul 26th 2010 9:27PM]

@quibbs

That's it! Thanks quibbs.Stunning piece of hardware...

[BBerryKnight Posted Jul 27th 2010 12:24AM]

@Darren Murph,

Is that a real laptop or a prototype ? If it is in production, mind mentioning the brand and series ? Looks Great !

[BBerryKnight Posted Jul 27th 2010 12:27AM]

Never mind, Quibbs answered that. Thnx Quibbs.