eSATA vs SATA

[Carson Dyle]

Is there any difference between a native eSATA port on a motherboard and an eSATA port that is just a cable extended from a SATA header to a port on the front or rear of a case?

In other words, is eSATA just the connector/port itself?

If no, is there any difference in performance between the two?

 

[Tsavo]

Essentially just that.

eSATAp ones also provide power, but good luck finding cables for them. Most of the eSATA devices need 1-2 USB headers for power.

 

[corkyg]

eSATA cables are not hared to find. There is a difference between a true eSATA port and a simple SATA port. If you use the normal SATA port cabled to an eSATA device, it will be seen as an internal drive. You won't then be able to turn off write caching and thus you may lose true hot plugging.

eSATA cables have squeeze latches - plain SATA do not.

 

[GAO]

In order for eSATA to be transmitted on cables 2 meters in length, the minimum transmission voltage for eSATA was raised by 100 mV over (internal) SATA, and the minimum required receive voltage sensitivity at the device was lowered by 85 mV.

Your internal SATA chip isn't required to implement this and probably does not. You may be fine with shorter cable and maybe even longer, but it isn't guaranteed.

EDIT: I believe if you keep the cable length under 3 feet you should be fine.