Question about eSATA/USB port on my laptop...?
I have a somewhat dated Lenovo Ideapad Y550 laptop which has a single eSATA/USB port on the side.
What do I need to do in order to take advantage of the eSATA transfer speed for purposes of backing up my laptop? Is that even the purpose of this port? For example, if I buy an eSATA to SATA cable, can I use a hdd where I provide power to its interface externally? I already have a Startech USB to SATA/IDE adapter.
Thank you for any help regarding this unusual port that I'm not sure what I can do with.
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You could, assuming you had an external power source, connect an internal SATA HDD to your eSATA port via a eSATA to SATA cable.
eSATA is theoretically 6 times faster than USB 2.0 which is why one might use it. eSATA is a common interface found on external HDD enclosures, so this will allow data to transfer faster than a USB connection. So connecting via eSATA would be faster than your USB to SATA/IDE adapter.
But just for the record today's standard for USB 3.0 (5gbps) and Thunderbolt (10gbps) both faster than eSATA unless you find an eSATA 6gbs (which they do make, but the Y550 does not have.)
Hope this was helpful.