Editing USB (section)

=== eSATA/eSATAp ===
The [[eSATA]] connector is a more robust [[SATA]] connector, intended for connection to external hard drives and SSDs. eSATA's transfer rate (up to 6&nbsp;Gbit/s) is similar to that of USB&nbsp;3.0 (up to 5&nbsp;Gbit/s) and USB&nbsp;3.1 (up to 10&nbsp;Gbit/s). A device connected by eSATA appears as an ordinary SATA device, giving both full performance and full compatibility associated with internal drives.

eSATA does not supply power to external devices. This is an increasing disadvantage compared to USB. Even though USB&nbsp;3.0's 4.5&nbsp;W is sometimes insufficient to power external hard drives, technology is advancing, and external drives gradually need less power, diminishing the eSATA advantage. [[eSATAp]] (power over eSATA, a.k.a. ESATA/USB) is a connector introduced in 2009 that supplies power to attached devices using a new, backward compatible, connector. On a notebook eSATAp usually supplies only 5&nbsp;V to power a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD; on a desktop workstation it can additionally supply 12&nbsp;V to power larger devices including 3.5-inch HDD/SSD and 5.25-inch optical drives.

eSATAp support can be added to a desktop machine in the form of a bracket connecting the motherboard SATA, power, and USB resources.

eSATA, like USB, supports [[hot plugging]], although this might be limited by OS drivers and device firmware.