Cheap housing without seeming true eSATA!

The first disillusionment came out of the box. On the built-up board 6 pins of the IDE Headers were so bent that plugging the supplied IDE cable was impossible. This had to be rebent. When inserting the IDE cable then the board should be supported from below with your finger, because these bends otherwise dangerously strong.

The manual was ready with the second disillusionment. No eSATA if an IDE disk is installed.

At this point I was curious and had a look at the board more closely. Installed is just one IC. Namely, a JM20337. According to the manufacturer a "Hi-Speed ​​USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge". So SATA and PATA (IDE) for USB. If there is no eSATA.

If one follows the interconnects you find out quickly that the manufacturer has tricked the eSATA. Instead, as usual in real eSATA Bridges to go away from the Bridge IC the eSATA port is simply connected in parallel to the SATA port on the drive. So in eSATA mode has two host controller to the plate. Once the combo USB Bridge for the case and even the SATA controller on the mainboard. Furthermore, it means that the signal in eSATA mode neither buffered nor a level adjustment is carried out.

So * not * true eSATA but one between hard drive and controller "purely looped" tap out. May well be that that may well work under good conditions. I think this circuit but quite risky and have no desire to fuss around me with connection problems or data loss. Therefore, the case goes back and I order I prefer a model with real eSATA Bridge.