"John" wrote in message
.. .
Looking at Esata enclosures for external backup. I don't understand why
they say that they are supported on say up to XP but not Win7 or Linux?

See the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-167-_-Product

This one says Linux is supported assuming a new enough kernal but also
doesn't mention W7:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-179-_-Product

Why isn't W7 mentioned and in fact on one of the reviews at Newegg a
purchaser explicitly says that anything above XP isn't supported.

I mean, SATA is SATA, either the host comp's OS supports SATA or it
doesn't.

What is the deal here? Does the enclosure itself need an operating system?

Thanks,
John

I have that Vantec enclosure. It works with Vista and Win 7. The
specs say XP and above, meaning Vista, and Win 7, and probably
even Win 8, when it's released. If your computer has an eSATA
connector, the Vantec is the better bet as it will be faster than USB.
The Rosewill is USB only. Also, eSATA is bootable, and the
connection from your computer to the drive is straight through,
without any intervening controller. The Vantec's internal controller
is for the USB to SATA conversion. That means it can use any OS
you motherboard supports, with the drive formatted accordingly.

If your computer doesn't have eSATA, but has unused internal
SATA connectors, you can get a cable to connect from SATA to
eSATA connectors on a back slot cover.