Add eSata to Intel iMac (Early 2008)

It's probably possible, if you open it up and hack the hardware, and void the warranty. There is no user-friendly way to do it.

I would use the FireWire 800 port with a FireWire 800 external drive. Not quite as fast as eSATA, but reasonably close.

Why i´would he wanna do that? Isnt thats the whole idea of the Expresscard?

There's no ExpressCard slot on an iMac.

Yupp, you're right. I was too stuck in my own head;)

Maybe Apple should put one on there... 🙂

Kenichi wrote: +I would use the FireWire 800 port with a FireWire 800 external drive. Not quite as fast as eSATA, but reasonably close.+
Is this the same FW port on the Intel Mac I'm currently using to plug in my FireWire400 enclosures/drives? I need another external HD ASAP and want to maximize my options.

Thanks.

Depends on which Intel Mac you have.

Mine has two FireWire 400 ports.

The more recent models have one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port. The FireWire 800 port looks different; it's rectangular. You can use a cheap adapter to convert from FIreWire 800 to 400.

If your current hard drive is a 3.5-inch drive, the enclosure probably has a daisy chain port (and extra FireWire port). So one option is to connect your new drive to the back of your existing drive.

Another option is to get a self-powered FireWire hub. For example

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-FireWire-6-Port-Hub-F5U526-APL/dp/B0006BHCEK/ref=pdbbs_sr1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1227916824&sr=8-1

And yet another option is for use USB 2.0. I've been using one external drive through USB recently, and it works just fine. It's supposedly slower and less efficient than either FireWire 400 or 800, but for casual use, it seems just fine.

Very helpful. Thanks.

There is a $30 device that goes from FireWire 400 (and USB) to a SATA connector. I can only find it sold by CoolDrives.com, and it does not support Port Multiplier cases (in other words, only runs one drive, not a case with 2 or more drives inside). It works real well.

I document my findings on this very subject here:

http://web.me.com/allenhuffman/Appleause/Home/Entries/2009/1/17FireWire_to_SATA_adapters_for_theMac.html

FirmTek also makes a FireWire to SATA which has two ports, but it also does not support Port Multiplier cases. It is $129.

I read on these forums and elsewhere that eSata is not guaranteed to be hot-pluggable like USB and Firewire.

You may run into problems when it comes to mounting / unmounting. A quick google found this interesting thread on insanelymac: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=139641&pid=1016046&mode=threade d&start=