External SATA HDD connections on mobos

[JASANITY]

Does anyone know when this is going to become a standard? So far SATA is mainly an internal drive interface. Any ideas on when it will be placed in the front of desktops, or on laptops like USB connections?

 

[JASANITY]

bizuump

 

[Nocturnal]

My ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe came with a back plate which had I believe one or two SATA ports along with one or two power connectors.

 

[jwalker46]

It is now -- Asrock 939SLI32-eSata -- so many (most?) motherboards released in the future will have this feature.

 

[Zap]

You can buy external drive bays to hook up to the eSATA ports, so you can easily add external hard drives like using the USB drive bays, but with no performance hit.