Serial ATA (SATA) might be one of the fastest interfaces for transferring data, but many computers—and all Macs—lack an external SATA (or eSATA) port. For those who need to connect an eSATA device to their Mac, Addonics Technologies has released an eSATA adapter that lets you connect any eSATA storage device to any USB 3.0, 2.0 or 1.1 port.
The $34 adapter is about the size of a cigarette lighter and is compatible with external hard drives, solid-state drives, or optical drives with an eSATA interface. It also works with SATA Port Multiplier Storage, which means it can turn any eSATA RAID storage into a USB 3.0 external RAID system.
The adapter uses an eSATA USB Hybrid port, and supports a maximum transfer rate of 5 Gbps for USB 3.0, 480 Mbps for USB 2.0, and 12 Mbps for USB 1.1, which are the maximum speeds of the respective ports. Since it’s powered by USB, no additional power supply is needed—in fact, the adapter itself can even provide juice for low-power 5V eSATA devices, such as 2.5-inch eSATA hard drives.
The adapter is compatible with every major OS, including Mac OS X, and no software driver is needed.