Esata/usb port - clarification, is it same as esatap?

Not so dumb a question since I have not heard of a esatap port and the only thing that comes to mind is that it would be for a prtable esata device such as the drive you mentioned from Seagate. It could mean that power is supplied with the port along with the data where a esata port has just data?

Check this Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESATAp

eSATA ports do NOT provide any power for the external device (USB does), so eSATA devices normally need their own separate power supply module. BUT a non-standard version of the eSATA port has been developed that DOES provide power to the external device. I note that the article in the link says such ports can function as an eSATAp (powered), a plain eSATA, or as a USB port, depending on which specific connector is plugged in.

Many external HDD units for use with portables come with USB cables because those DO provide power to the drive, whereas plain eSATA does not. However, the USB port may be USB2, which certainly is slower than eSATA. The new USB3 is NOT slower. So for full speed use of the GoFlex, you really ought to be using either the eSATAp port system (make sure the GoFlex comes with such a cable) or a USB3 port system. What are the details of your laptop's port?

If you want to use the GoFlex at home with a desktop that has a normal eSATA port, your Go Flex will need a power supply connection. Does it come with one for use in this configuration?

Hi guys,

Very interesting topic that I find very useful!

I would be interested in trying out an eSATAp cable, but not sure if either my notebook or external HDD support it. If by any chance they both do(although I kind of doubt it) would it save me the trouble of having to use the HDDs power supply and simply power it via the eSATAp cable?

Notebook: Dell XPS 15z
http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-15z/pd
...
Ports and Connectors:
USB 2.0/eSATA combo with PowerShare
...

HDD: Seagate Black Armor WS110
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/blackarmor/userguide...

Thanks!
Cheers!

Thanks for the replies so far peeps...

Shobo, sounds like you have the same uncertainty that I do - I too have a port on my laptop labelled esata/usb combo port.

Paperdoc - yeah, I looked at the wikipedia page...it's the terminology that is confusing me a bit though. The article refers to an esatap port, and then says that it is sometimes referred to as an esatap/usb combo port, but it doesn't say that it is specifically the same thing. I don't want to make the mistake of assuming that just because all of product A = product B, the same must hold true in reverse. (i.e so all ports that are esatap will function as an esata/usb combo port, doesn't mean that all esata/usb combo ports function as esatap).

It seems to be the same thing - there just appears to be some inability for laptop and componant manufacturers to be able to label things the same...I've not managed to find a single laptop that states it has an esatap port, just esata/usb combo...whlist I've not managed to find a single reference from seagate to their drive only functioning with an esata/usb port - just esatap.

I've got a query waiting with seagate tech help asking them if they mean the same thing, so if I get a reaponse I'll post it on here.

Paperdoc - if I had a usb 3.0 drive i'd definitely look at that option, but my laptop is only usb 2.0, hence the desire to use the esata/port if possible. The Goflex comes with interchangeable connectors so when using it on my laptop (assuming i can, that is) I would use the esatap connector for the best speed, and then if I were wanting to use it on another machine that didn't have that facility I'd just switch back over to the usb connector.

Talk about timing - I checked my email just after I'd posted that last reply and had gotten the following bsack from Seagate:

"The eSATA interface for the GoFlex product uses a new standard, the eSATA combo or eSATAp interface, and this is used to provide the speed of eSATA combined with power from a USB bus. This requires an eSATA combo port. These combo ports are typically found only on newer laptop computers and are generally designated by the word "eSATA" followed by a USB symbol.


Tips:

The drive will only work with combo ports - ports that combine an eSATA data transfer connector with a USB power connector.
Basic eSATA ports do not provide power and will not work. These combo ports are sometimes also called eSATAp or powered eSATA ports.
The eSATA cable is not supported on Mac computers since Mac computers do not currently offer powered eSATA ports."

So it looks like esatap and esata/usb combo are the same thing - esata/usb combo basically describes the port (i.e. an esata port that also has power through the pins that are used in the usb connector), and it seems as though they tried to give a standard port name of esatap, except that nobody actually uses it (apart from seagate and wikipedia!)

Great! Looks like it will work as you plan, as long as you get both the eSATAp cable and the USB cable with the GoFlex unit.

As a "upgrade" for future, you might be able (by adding a PCIe card) to add to your desktop computer either an eSATAp port or a USB3 port for fast transfers there, too. But either way, having USB2 capability in the GoFlex means you can use it on just about ANY machine.