eSATA-EC, a 2-Port SATA2 ExpressCard 34 for the MacBook Pro--$99.95

The Firewire Depot now has a 2-port SATA2 ExpressCard 34 for the MacBook Pro, the eSATA-EC. One can connect up to 10 drives (using port multiplier based 5 drive enclosures) for high-performance applications, such as Apple's Final Cut Pro. With Firewire Depot's qBox-P or sBOX-P attached in a RAID 0 array, they claim that the eSATA-EC can typically achieve sustained disk write and read speeds of 130 and 140 MB/sec, respectively, which is about five times as fast as USB 2.0 or three times as fast as FireWire connections to the same drive setup. With the eSATA-EC PC Express Card installed, you can connect your notebook to SATA peripherals such as the SATA HUB, an External RAID, and eSATA storage Devices (CDROM, CD/RW, MO, HDD, ZIP etc.).

The eSATA-EC retails for $99.95, $20 less than the superfast FirmTek 2MS2-E eSATA ExpressCard 34 that we previously reviewed. [Bill Fox]