ESATA bracket/PCI card/bridge/anything!

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Alright, either I'm going mad, or there is no such thing as ESATA in the United Kingdom.

So I was thinking of getting an ESATA enclosure for the new SATA drive I bought, as I bought it before noticing I had no more free SATA ports in my system. Found the enclosure, easy. Next tried looking for something that would allow me to plug the enclosure into my system... can't find one. I can find dozens if I look at US shops, none (and I mean none) in any of the online UK shops that I could think of (and several I found when I got desperate).

The only ESATA related item I have found that was not a motherboard or an external drive was an ESATA bridge... that plugs into PCMCIA. Not very helpful, since this is a desktop (and I really, really don't want to have a PCMCIA to ESATA bridge plugged into another bridge etc etc etc).

So... anyone has an idea where I can find an ESATA bridge in the UK? Either ESATA to PCI (not PCI-E, as my motherboard is a few years old), or straight ESATA to SATA would be even better. I thought I was starting to go mad when every website I looked at seemed not to have it. Where do people plug their ESATA external drives?

Sorry about the rant... but any help would be very appreciated!

 

I know a few products that will help you out.

I recommend this one, because it comes with 2 eSATA, 2 SATA, and an IDE connection...and it's PCI-E 1x...you know, those tiny little ports that almost always go unused on motherboards...but you said you don't have one of those ports...oh well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815283005

This one is a "multi-function" front panel device that has eSATA, USB, various card readers, and fan controls:
http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-fp01-multifunction-panel.html

These two are more of a eSATA extender, as they plug in to your motherboard's SATA ports:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812226003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119021

No onboard SATA? No problem:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115035

Or you could just convert it to USB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812174001

You should be able to get those products in the UK too.

 

That's the problem: I cannot find them here. I spent hours yesterday pulling my hair out, thinking "if there's so many of them on newegg, they MUST exist over here!" Apparently they don't. One of the eSATA extenders you linked to is exactly the same one that I looked at yesterday (the link you posted was highlighted as "page already visited"). But can't find any such things in any online shops here. Tried going into one of the little shops today - the store owners just gave me blank looks when I described the devices (and even named brands that I'd found on newegg). Ah well, guess I'll have to settle for a USB enclosure and the decreased speed. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

Don't give up just yet.

I'll try a few more tricks, and edit my post with them once I find what I'm looking for.

[EDIT]

Ok, here we go:
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=339070&cks=ASS&assoc=8070E5CC-28EB-433D-8345-6176BFE08D72

For a broader search, I went to www.google.co.uk/products and this is what I found:
http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=esata+backplate&show=dd

You see my friend, there are plenty of them across the pond...you just have to know where to look.

[ September 24, 2007, 22:28: Message edited by: Kitrax ]

 

I didn't even know about Google product search! Wish I'd been more patient. I've already bought the USB enclosures. I even considered getting the dual USB/eSATA ones, then just got the plain USB ones

Anyway thanks very much for your help. I'll learn to be more perseverant next time!

 

I use google's product search all the time...but I always forget about the UK version of the site, same with Amazon's UK site. I guess that's what happens when you don't *live* in the UK.

If I were you, I'd see about returning the USB enclosure, as eSATA is faster.