IOGEAR: SATA, eSATA accessories, upgrades

IOGEAR on Monday introduced new Serial ATA (SATA) and External SATA (eSATA) products, including PCI and PCI-Express card adapters, enclosures, and cables. The new storage upgrades and accessories offer a faster, cost-effective option for increasing their disk drive speeds, the company said. The new product line facilitates data transfers at speeds up to 3Gbps -- six times quicker than USB 2.0, while the SATA PCI and PCI-Express solutions also add RAID (redundant array of independent disks) capabilities to existing laptops and desktops. IOGEAR's new enclosure converts internal SATA hard disk drives into durable external USB 2.0 or eSATA drives that can take full advantage of the robust SATA feature set.

IOGEAR's new eSATA family includes the RAID5-capable eSATA 3Gbps External 2-port PCI-Express Card (GICe702S3R5W6) for $47. Compatible with the PCI-Express interface, the adapter effectively quadruples the amount of available computing bandwidth over traditional PCI by adding two second-generation eSATA ports to any desktop with available expansion slots. The adapter supports RAID 5, 0, 1 and 10 configurations. The company's IOGEAR's RAID5-capable eSATA 1.5Gbps External 4-port PCI Card (GIC704SR5W6 for $70) adds four first-generation eSATA ports to desktop computers, enabling data transfers at 1.5Gbps and adding RAID 5, 0, 1 and 10 capabilities.

"As consumers increasingly use technology in their professional and personal lives, they need to be able to instantly access and store all of their information, such as digital photos, movies and music," said Miranda Su, vice president of sales and marketing at IOGEAR. "Our new SATA and eSATA products provide a convenient method to support storage by facilitating file transfers to external hard disk and optical drives at record-breaking speeds."

IOGEAR's SATA family consists of the eSATA 1.5Gbps 1 Internal + 1External Low-Profile PCI Card (GIC711SW6 for $38) as well as the eSATA 3Gbps 1-Internal and 1-External Port Low-Profile PCI Express Host Card (GICe711S3W6 for $47) and the SATA 3Gbps Internal 2 Port Low-Profile PCI-Express Card (GICe720S3W6 for $47). IOGEAR also now offers the 2.5-inch eSATA 3Gbps / USB 2.0 Combo ION Drive Enclosure (GHE7125S3W6 for $40) to convert internal SATA disk drives into external USB 2.0 or eSATA hard drives. The fanless drive supports all 2.5-inch drives up to 250GB and has an LED that indicates power/drive activity.

In addition, IOGEAR now provides a variety of SATA and eSATA cables, supporting speeds between 1.5-3 Gbps and ranging in length from 1-2 meters. The entire family is available immediately from all major catalog and online resellers, as well as selected retail outlets.

Filed under: upgrades/storage, accessories
Other story tags: SATA, eSATA, IOGEAR, cables, drive enclosure, drive case, host adapter