I recently purchased a 3.5" SATA drive and mounted it in an external enclosure. I am using it to store my downloads, which I am performing on my Compal HEL80 notebook. It's currently connected through USB 2.0, and it's definitely not as responsive as my internal HD. I've seen PCMCIA cards to extend eSATA support to laptops, and I'm wondering if it would make any difference. The HEL80 supports both CMCIA Type II and ExpressCard 34/54 . Which type should I get? Should I get any at all?
Express Cards are different than PCMCIA. Express Cards are closer to PCI Express (PCIe) on the desktop, where PCMCIA is closer to PCI. The standards are not compatible with each other. Given the relatively low-bandwith for PCMCIA, moving from USB 2.0 to eSATA cards probably won't do much, if anything.
