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That's what I got. I'm not surprised that it's more reliable via esata. FW800 blows.

Well yeah, now you have it blows. A few years ago it was industry standard. In a few years it'll all be obsolete.

...well, the industry standard often blows.

That's why I'm leaning toward USB 3 rather than esata actually. It seems slightly more future proof and versatile with 3 and 3.1 being backwardly compatible to USB 2.

Is there any good reason to use esata over usb3? As Mike points out, the speed of esata is only a bit faster.

dix wrote:...well, the industry standard often blows.

That's why I'm leaning toward USB 3 rather than esata actually. It seems slightly more future proof and versatile with 3 and 3.1 being backwardly compatible to USB 2.

Is there any good reason to use esata over usb3? As Mike points out, the speed of esata is only a bit faster.

Not for backing up to spinners... either interface speed far outstrips the drive read/write speed. Which is why I simply use USB2.

BTW, USB3 is almost as fast as Thunderbolt. Both are a lot faster than any SATA protocol.

Sorry. I got two different things I'm trying to figure out in this thread. Actually, I'm wanting to run my VI libraries from the esata or USB 3 card. Not the backup drives.

The internet is saying that it's usb 3.1 that competes with Thunderbolt and that 3.0 is is just a bit slower than esata. Is that incorrect? ...the internet says a lot of wrong things.

Thanks!

I have a USB3 and a TB dock with spinners and the USB3 seems much fast and reliable. Just sayin' LOL

dix wrote:Sorry. I got two different things I'm trying to figure out in this thread. Actually, I'm wanting to run my VI libraries from the esata or USB 3 card. Not the backup drives.

The internet is saying that it's usb 3.1 that competes with Thunderbolt and that 3.0 is is just a bit slower than esata. Is that incorrect? ...the internet says a lot of wrong things.

Thanks!

I just poked around on that Internet thingy, too. Looks like you are correct.

If you need an inexpensive SATA6 card and have a slot to spare to feed a single drive, they can be had for $11:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-E-PCI-Expre ... SwXeJXfwv4

Although you can connect two drives (any combination of internal/external), since cards like this run in a PCIex1 slot, they max out at just under SATA6 speed total throughput. I've got one; it works fine. Although I do not boot from it, it is my understanding the ASM 1061 controller is OS X bootable.

There's a few cards that do both esata and USB3 too, I'm considering. ...I don't need to boot from the card, but that is another thing I should probably check in to. thx

Btw, In case anyone else is thinking of creating a Time Machine backup on a drive locally, via USB3 or sata, and then moving to the Airport to save time like I was, it is not possible. TM docs created on a network are different than those created locally

As it is it could 14 days to back up my project and boot drive! I say 'could' because TM now says I'm backing up 3.23tb of data for some reason, when in fact it's only backing up 750gb (a mere 2 and half days ). Don't know why that is.

I got this. I like it.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunder ... olt2-Dock/

dix wrote:FW800 blows.

FireWire was supported by the PPC Consortium but not by Intel. That's what crippled it. Part of the spec is supported by Thunderbolt which is why the adapter works with many devices but those that require the full spec won't function properly.

My 828mkII is the only FW device I have that works properly with my 2010 iMac but only with a direct connection. Any attempt I make to use a FW hub crashes the port and it takes resetting the NV RAM to bring the port back to life.

There's lots of reasonable cards out there. I went with a usb 3 / esata card from OWC.

Now: any recos for ssd external enclosures? Ideally one with both esata and usb3.

Thx!

I must be coming off like a broken record but, unless there's a reason for an enclosure, I recommend a dock.

Place the drive vertically into the enclosure—you're done. Takes either 3.5 or 2.5" drive without an adapter. I've had no problem running the el cheapos and see no advantage to the high priced units. No fans!

Just make sure it supports the connections you need. These support eSATA and USB 3. I prefer the ones that come bundled with cables.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-Exte ... B005UA3I72

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Ignore the size limit. That's just the marketing department telling you the max available when the copy was written. I have used 8T HHDs and 2T SSDs in units supporting a max 1T HHD or 500G SSD.

Yeah, docks are great. I have a double TB and a double USB3 dock. So convenient. I do like my more "critical" drives protected in a nice enclosure, however, as long as it's super quiet!

Yes, I think I feel the same way. I'd prefer my main external drives to be in enclosures. May be a bit superstitious.

Also, it looks like these are all SATA II. I'm looking for SATA III enclosures to house my VI libraries. Here's one: https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Aluminum ... losure+ssd

Also, it looks like these are all SATA II.

What makes you think that? This one specifically claims eSATA III, scroll down. You'll see it comes with both cables, too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

dix wrote:Here's one: https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Aluminum ... losure+ssd

Looks fine except that it does not support eSATA, only USB 3.

The SATA connection refers to the drive to the enclosure.