Is data compatible with eSATAp?

[SideLeek03588]

I have a laptop that I got for £20 and it has no hard drive but has an eSATAp port, can I plug a normal SATA drive into the eSATAp port?

[Kilrah]

If it was a 2.5" drive, and you had a cable and enclosure yes... Or you could just install it internally.

[YoungBlade]

A laptop drive (2.5") should be able to draw all of its needed power from the eSATA port with the appropriate cable - this is especially true for an SSD, as they draw way less power than a 2.5" HDD.

 

Is there a reason you don't want to just open up the laptop and install a drive?

[TSNH]

(Especially) if you want to have an SSD search the specs of your laptop to make sure that the speed of the eSATAp port is the same as the main one, because it is sometimes lower standard, like SATA3 for the main drive and SATA2 for others.

If they are both SATA3, the 2.5" drive should work just as well.

 

The reason why everyone mentioned 2.5" is that eSATAp supports only 5V and 2.5" drives need only 5V,

but 3.5" also need 12V, so if you want to plug in your drive externally because it is way too large to fit inside the laptop then it won't work this way