Why aren't there any motherboards with external sata 3 ports

[St✩rlight]

I would love to have 3 systems running from a central boot OS and storage system but I don't think it's possible with a NAS server and I don't know how it would be possible without an external speed hub (SATA 3 or better).

[gwwak]

There are. Or at least there used to be. My old AM2+ board from 19 years ago has an Esata port.

[Ralf]

Because USB 3.0 replaced it not long after eSata release. eSata couldn't supply the required power, so a external power brick was required or on of those Molex Power PCI Bracket abominations. So it was abandoned quick.

[St✩rlight]

Originally posted by Ralf:

Because USB 3.0 replaced it not long after eSata release. eSata couldn't supply the required power, so a external power brick was required or on of those Molex Power PCI Bracket abominations. So it was abandoned quick.

Really? USB 3.0?

[St✩rlight]

What if each device (with its own power supply) has it's own external molex. Sata in, Molex out.

[JTFish]

There used to be around the AMD64/Core 1 and 2 eras but they got replaced by USB to sata cables/docks. Because the sata port couldn't provide power motherboard manufacturers also each designed their own stupid proprietary port that could provide power too. It was a mess.

[Omega]

You want an internal HDD docking station, they can be installed inside of the ODD bays.

[smokerob79]

why not add a second SATA controller to a PCI-E slot and keep the drives internal all on 1 power supply??


something like this.....

https://www.newegg.com/estone-pcie24sata-pci-to-sata-card/p/17Z-00GR-00044

[_I_]

e-sata isnt really a thing anymore since usb 3.0 can nearly match the speeds
you could get a sata card, many of those have e-sata ports
but e-sata is data only, not power, they need a brick or usb power adapter

that was their downfall

e-sata card
*note that you need to move the jumpers from sata to e-sata for the e-sata ports to be enabled, and sata ports disabled
https://www.amazon.com/eSATA3-0-SATA3-0-Non-Raid-Controller-Support/dp/B09Y1PHD9P

or if the board has a free sata port, e-sata io slot covers
https://www.amazon.com/SATA-eSATA-Cable-ATX-Bracket/dp/B001BQ48GE
https://www.amazon.com/OTDOGUO-Serial-Cable-Bracket-Adapter/dp/B0DWX46TY1

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Just get USB to SATA Dock that can utilize USB 3.1/3.2

[Alice Liddell]

eSATA was passed over by Thunderbolt.

You can still get those eSATA adapters for the PCIe but they are far and few.

Might be easier to run a SATA III cable outside of the PC case for disk Hot Swapping needs.

Think the brand I was looking at was "StarTech" which seemed more viable then those Chinese adapters per customer reviews but the most eSATA ports I found were only two (maybe three but definitely two which turned me off).

Before Thunderbolt ports, eSATA was supposed to be a quality feature for desktop PC's but was abandoned promptly.

I found that USB 3.2 Gen 2 Hot Swap docking or higher was just as good (if not better) than SATAIII or eSATA.

With those Hot Swappers, I found only 1.3s delay (SSD) in write over SATAIII SSD internal drives and about 100MB faster or so in write.

HDD performance on a Hot Swap USB 3.2 Gen2 or higher was abysmal with a write rate of +1m15s and read speed of -200MB/s.

I would also like to add that these tests were done on a VERTICAL hot swapper not horizontal which would be the cause of delay for HDD.

Bad 💀 Motha has some very good points below. ↓

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Alice Liddell:

eSATA was passed over by Thunderbolt.

You can still get those eSATA adapters for the PCIe but they are far and few.

Or just get PCIE SATA card. Some offer regular sata or esata ports on the back of the card in addition to regular sata ports on front of card

Without e-Sata you can also simply rig up sata for external use by having a power cable from PSU come out rear of Case through a rear slot and then also a SATA data cable, attached one end already to a Motherboard or PCIE sata port and thus its ready to hook up a sata drive outside of your case. When connecting bare drives this way just be careful as not all Motherboard support sata hot plugging. And if it's a HDD type, which have exposed PCB on them, ensure the HDD lays flat on the metal side and not the PCB side

[sebo]

SATA is obsolete. in a few more years, most gaming motherboards will do away with the internal ports. theyre becoming a waste in board resources with the rise of modern USB/TB and NVME.

You can boot from USB and as far as NAS is concerned, mine run on usb thumb sticks.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

We are already getting to the point where you be lucky to have 2x SATA ports even on a really good MB. Pretty soon that's about all you will ever see since SATA isn't really needed anymore. As you should be utilizing your M2 slots more and in the event you do need to hookup a SATA HDD, you can use USB 3.x/4.x

[tyl0413]

Because USB is a garbage connection and everything always has to get worse with time now while also going up in price.
I'll use USB for more than a mouse as soon as they're deployed in datacenters, same with Wifi and the rest of that garbage, until then, real high end functional hardware is cheap second hand while consumer garbage just keeps going up in price and decreasing in functionality (yes im talking about NASes specifically too, imagine paying 500$ for a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ARM CPU and 4 HDD bays when I can find an Optiplex in the trash with a more powerful CPU and 4 HDD bays you know because this tier of functionality used to be the bare minimum for ages while now its sold at a premium?)
I got the last in stock Prime X670-P with 6 SATA (and 4 PCIe so I can fit a RAID card) and Define XL R2 bc of this, the only usable case I could find and the only good AM5 board (well there are a few other decent ones that cost 1K/2K lol), ofc way more expensive too for the same functionality than years ago but at least still cheaper than the competition which lacks even more.
Just go buy a Mac right now please if you defend this than drive the entire PC market to cripple itself to the tier of modern Macs which literally are just iPads in keyboard cases and a not completely useless OS preloaded (remember when Macs were actual computers? Hard to believe there was such a time). I guess it was just a matter of time before PCs too became useless to keep up with "industry trends", software freedom has been dead for over a decade if you use Windows and hardware freedom is on its way out too, building a PC is not actually about piecing together your perfect setup for your unique needs anymore, 99% of parts are all the same nonfuncional garbage with a slightly different logo, modern PC building is basically just a reddit circlejerk now.
I don't think in a few more generations at most you'll be able to find any case that actually has space to mount stuff, or a motherboard which has enough connections and so on, just like you can't find a laptop that can mount a HDD inside yet alone multiple, or replace the battery without ripping it fully apart or a phone with an audio port, SD card slot, replaceable battery, smaller than 6 inches, not loaded with insane amounts of irremovable spyware and bloatware, and so on.
Modern consumer technology is near completely unusable, all form over function overpriced trash.

[Lord Flashheart]

Do you want esata. Could you get driver support now.

Ir depend what you want to do with the 3 sysems.

Truenas scale is free NAS sofrware.
It also has virtualisation capability.

How about a powerful enough machine with truenas scale and install the virtual machines you need?