eSATA or USB 3.0 - a comparison

If you want to buy a new hard drive, you have the choice between eSATA and USB 3.0. We compare the two standards.

eSATA or USB 3.0: which is better?

USB 3.0: A USB 3.0 hard drive usually allows a maximum transfer rate of 5 GBit / s, which corresponds to approximately 640 MByte / s. With USB 3.1, a data rate of up to 10 Gbit / s is expected.
eSATA: An eSATA hard drive transfers data with a maximum of 6 GBit / s. That corresponds to about 750 MByte / s.
Plug: Both connections should survive at least 5, 000 attachments. The connection via USB 3.0 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.0.
Distribution: USB 3.0 is installed in almost every current desktop PC and laptop. eSATA connections are also available there, but are rarely found on laptops.

In terms of speed, eSATA is only slightly ahead of the USB 3.0 standard. This will hardly be noticeable on HDD hard drives, but eSATA can bring a small advantage with SSDs.
However, USB 3.0 is ahead in terms of distribution. Every current desktop PC and laptop has a USB 3.0 interface and can also be operated via USB 2.0 if necessary. You won't find a connection for eSATA hard drives on most laptops.
eSATA is currently still a bit faster, but USB 3.0 and above all its successor USB 3.1 should belong to the future.