What is the difference between eSata and sata?

[purtman]

I've read about eSATA on here and have seen SATA drives advertised. What is the difference?

[MikeekiM]

SATA - internal
eSATA - external

[Earl Bonovich]

Internal... External

An "eSATA" is a SATA Drive, with an external case, that provides it power and a connection designed for usage outside the inner guts of the computer/system.

[purtman]

I wondered if the "e" was for external. I believe I also saw pSata. What is that?

[Neil Derryberry]

you likely saw "pata".. stands for parallel ata which is a plain old ide drive. sata stands for serial ata. The term pata became more widely used when sata hit the scene.

The differences between esata and sata cables are purely in the cable and cable connector.. the esata cable is shielded and doesn't have the cable keying notch on the inside of the connector. the interfaces are the same electrically.