Can Thunderbolt pass ATA commands to attached HDDs?

[0004838]

Hi,

Does anyone know if a SATA drive connected via an eSATA adapter to a Thunderbolt port can successfully receive and act upon ATA commands? So: SATA -> eSATA -> Thunderbolt -> MacBook Pro.

I'm primarily thinking of using the Sanitize Device command.

 

[killawat]

I was never able to find a way to do secure erase while in OS X but was able to do it easily using the (paid, $10) parted magic bootable, but that was to secure_erase the internal disks, no externals.

I want to say that it should work but haven't tried personally. are you able to boot from your esata drives?

 

[JTToft]

I'd say it should. TRIM is available on SSDs via Thunderbolt.

 

[iMacDragon]

thunderbolt esata should be a fully native sata interface as far as the system is concerned, so yes, it should..

 

[0004838]

Thanks for the replies, guys. When I get a chance I'll set the whole thing up and give it a bash.

are you able to boot from your esata drives?

Good question. I know from testing that booting from USB 3 over the same adapter doesn't work, but I didn't try eSATA. Actually, I'm not sure I have any boot drives that I could test that scenario out on. But you've piqued my interest now…