Brando recently released the UNITEK Y-1034 USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter that allows PC users to connect their IDE or SATA drives to a PC via USB with USB 3.0 speeds.
Brando says its adapter supports transfer speeds up to 5GBit/s, which is almost 10 times faster than average USB 2.0 speeds.
PC companies are now developing USB 3.0 technology. The new technology allows 1GB of information to be transferred in a mere 3.3 seconds, while the same amount of data transferred via USB 2.0 would take about 33 seconds. Most PCs and notebooks of today cannot support USB 3.0.
The Brando adapter is designed to support 2.5" and 3.5" SATA HDDs, or a single 3.5" IDE drive via USB.
The price of the pocket-sized Brando adapter is $48.
Even though a small number of PC users can currently support USB 3.0, the ability to use a SATA drive on a USB 3.0-enabled PC seems very appealing. Most products today force owners to use a docking station, which is bulky and adds additional clutter that very few people want to put up with.
Microsoft Windows 7 has USB 3.0 support, but Windows XP isn't expected to receive USB 3.0 support. Various Linux operating systems also are testing the new SuperSpeed technology. As the tech world whips through 2010, it’ll be up to software makers and PC manufacturers to work together to help accelerate USB 3.0 adoption.
