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Newer Technology eSATA To USB 3.0 Adapter Offers High Performance Link Between Existing External Drives And New MacBook Computers

Newer Technology, Inc. announced today its eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter as the high performance, Plug and Play link between existing eSATA interface equipped external drives and the new ‘SuperSpeed’ USB 3.0 equipped MacBook and MacBook Air computers introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this past Monday.

Updates Existing Drives With 3x Faster Performance

The $29.95 MSRP adapter has been benchmark test proven to deliver over 240MB/s real-world data rate performance from the following NewerTech and OWC eSATA interface equipped solutions: Newer Tech Guardian MAXimus, Guardian MAXimus mini, and Voyager Q; OWC Mercury Elite Pro, Mercury Elite Pro Dual Drive, Mercury Elite Pro mini, Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini, Mercury Qx2, and the Mercury Rack Pro; as well as other brand external drives when used with the new 2012 Mac models. For comparison, FireWire 800, the most prevalent high-speed Macintosh computer interface, offers a real-world maximum of 82MB/s transfer rate.

Plug and Play 3-Step High Speed Data Transfers

With no special software or drivers to install, using the NewerTech eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter is an easy, three step process:

  1. Power on the eSATA equipped external drive.
  2. Connect the NewerTech eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter to an external drive via a standard eSATA cable.
  3. Connect the NewerTech eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter to the USB 3.0 port on a new 2012 MacBook Pro, 2012 MacBook Air, or PC via the included USB 3.0 cable. 

This Plug and Play adapter ushers in a new, high-performance future for existing eSATA-equipped external drives,” said Grant Dahlke, Brand Manager, Newer Technology, Inc. “Easy to use and affordable, it offers up to three times faster performance to maximize a drive’s capabilities with today’s standards while also maximizing a consumer’s investment in the drive itself.”

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27 Comments

  • Hi there.

    I just purchased a Newer Technology eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter via Macsales.com and i can’t get it to work :(
    I have an iMac 27″ 2012 model with USB3 and a OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2.
    It will not show up on my desktop, nor will my Promise Smartstor DS4600 show. I connect via eSata ofcouse.
    Nothing work ? The OS is Mountain Lion 10.8.3 latest complete updated.

    BR
    Photographer
    Erik Sjogren

    • For technical support and troubleshooting assistance please contact our technical support department via:
      Live Chat, E-mail or by telephone at 1-800-275-4576 | 1-815-338-8685

    • For an internal 9.5mm Apple SuperDrive Optical Drive or 5.25″ Optical Drive, the OWC SuperSlim and OWC Value line would be two great enclosures to setup an internal optical drive into. Each Optical enclosure has USB cable interfaces.

  • Am I correct to assume this adapter works the other way round we well (ie. hooking up a USB3.0 hard drive to a 2011 MacBook pro with an eSata PCI card)?

    Thanks.

    • No, this adapter is intended for an eSATA equipped external drive to connect to a USB 3.0 port on a computer. It does not work in reverse and will not allow a USB 3.0 equipped external drive to connect to an eSATA port on a computer.

  • I have the Lacie Thunderbolt eSATA Hub that I’m using with a 4-bay external enclosure with my MBP Retina. I thought that I would buy this relatively expensive adapter to see how the performance compares, using the USB 3.0 port on the MBP Retina.

    I didn’t use any super-sophistacted benchmarking tool (Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test) but the Lacie hub was the winner by anywhere from 10-20 MB/sec – not a huge difference, but could make a difference for some applications.

    I’m not convinced the difference is the difference between eSata-to-Thunderbolt versus USB 3 in general – rather, it is the difference between eSATA-to-Thunderbolt versus eSATA-to-USB 3. That is, if my enclosure supported USB 3 directly, that would provide an interesting test that would eliminate the possibility that the Newer Technology device itself has limitations that are getting in the way of seeing throughput that further approaches the full capabilities of USB 3.

    I would love it if OWC did some tests comparing various inter-connect options the new USB capable macs.

  • How is the speed of this USB 3.0 adapter compared to an ExpressCard/24 eSATA adapter like OWC ExpressCard/34?

    • The speeds will be very similar as both products are limited to SATA Revision 2.6 (3Gb/s) speeds.

  • OWC Michael – looking for a similar speed increase, will the Maximus Mini move to USB 3.0 anytime soon? Is the Max Mini bus powered over USB? That would be faster than FW800 and would improve the Max Mini considerably. Thx.

      • “As the USB 3.0 interface is not port multiplier aware, no.”

        Other eSATA to USB 3.0 adapter sold on the Internet do have ‘port multiplier’ over USB 3.
        So is it that this adapter does not support port multiplier?
        Or does USB 3 not support port multiplier?

        • This adapter does not support port multiplication, as the USB 3.0 interface on the adapter is not port multiplier aware.
          Sorry about any confusion.

  • Will there be a similar adapter for Thunderbolt, enabling similar connections for the 2011 MBP without having to drop $200 on the LaCie hub?

  • Is this solution as fast as the esata connection itself. I have the OWC Mercury Elite Pro.
    Thanks

    • Yes, the current chipset in that enclosure uses eSATA Revision 2.6 for up to 3.0 Gbit/s (or 300 MB/sec)

  • Very nice. Any plans on carrying some solid USB 3.0 hubs that deliver true USB 3.0 speeds and don’t constantly disconnect your devices? Given that the latest MBP Retina only has 2 ports, a quality hub might be worth looking into.

    • OS X – yes, it is bootable (provided you’re using an external enclosure that supports booting over eSATA).
      Boot camp – no, you cannot boot to bootcamp via USB or FireWire.