USB-drives gain SATA-support

So far external drives hace had to rely on the old PATA-format (IDE) as a bridge between the USB2.0 and firewire interface.
There haven’t been any way to convert data between SATA and USB2.0 in an fast and efficient way, which of course have crippled manufacuterers.

Now it seems though that there will be coming external drives with SATA-support since Oxford Semiconductor has launched the world’s first chip for transferring data lossless between USB2.0 and SATA.

“Supporting the rapid transition to serial ATA storage, the OXU921S from Oxford Semiconductor is the world’s first bridge chip to provide transparent data transfer between a USB2.0 port and an external SATA disk drive.”

These are of course positive news, but one might wonder whether there is a firewire-support coming as well as it is often preferred over USB.
Anyway we look forward to seeing harddrives cabinetts suporting SATA-drives and we can finally leave the antique PATA-standard.
Read the  entire pressrelease over at Oxford Semiconductor.