Internal Vs. External Sata
With the ability to hot swap, less complicated cabling, faster transfer rates and greater storage capacity Serial ATA drives lend themselves to external use. However, it is marketing rather than technical differences that set external units apart from internal.
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There is no technical difference between internal and external SATA drives. The hardware itself is interchangeable. You can pull the drive out of any computer and use it externally using a SATA enclosure or adapter cabling. You also may dismantle an external drive and mount it within your computer. Either way the drive requires a power supply and connection to your motherboard. It is in these two connections that external and internal drives differ.
Differences
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External drives are intended to be user-friendly and accessible. The wiring that is used with internal SATA is too fragile for this type of use. As a result, USB connections are generally used to build these "plug and play" devices. However, this wiring slows the transfer rate of the drive down, making external drives functionally slower than internal. The ultimate goal is to eradicate this problem with alternate SATA wiring.
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eSATA
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The SATA-IO (SATA-International Organization) has developed eSATA (external SATA) in response to this need. eSATA is similar to internal wiring in function, but capable of withstanding greater amounts of handling and static electricity. Six times faster than USB or FireWire, eSATA is blurring the line between internal and external bringing your devices up to speed.
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