PCMCIA-SATA or USB-SATA

[maetkh]

Hi,
I have a laptop, OS: Mandriva linux.
I want to buy a conector from USB to SATA or PCMCIA to SATA and I don't know which is better idea, the price is almost the same.
With whitch kind of connector the external( almost external) HDD adding would be easier, whitch of them have better drivers, whitch will be faster ...(& so on)

Any ideas, advantages & disadvantages would be apreciated.

[techieMoe]

I suppose the most obvious advantage I can think of is USB is available on pretty much every PC you can get these days (both desktop and laptop) whereas PCMCIA is not usually available on desktop machines and is supposedly being replaced by Express Cards in newer laptops.

[maetkh]

I agree, that is the one pluss for USB, but for PCMCIA big pluss is that I never use it, it is always free and I can plug something in it, the USB is always used( mouse,Digital PhotoCam,...)
maybe there are some other reasons why USB is better.

How is with the PCMCIA drivers in linux, will I find them easy or there are many problems?

[techieMoe]

How is with the PCMCIA drivers in linux, will I find them easy or there are many problems?

I don't honestly know, as I've never used PCMCIA in Linux. I know all the major distributions ship with some sort of PCMCIA support (it's the first thing I turn off usually), but as for specific cards, I imagine it depends on the chipset vendor.