Hardware Expander Types:
Internal port expander: has a connection inside the computer, typically on the motherboard, and the only part the user sees is the expansion plate containing multiple ports.
External port expander: An external device plugs into the existing port and then has multiple places to connect.
SOME EXAMPLES AND IMAGES OF PORT EXPANDERS:

* Ethernet Port Expander Hardware

* FireWire Port Expander Hardware

* DB-25 Port Expander Hardware

* Serial Port Expander Hardware

* USB Port Expander Hardware

* Audio Port Expander Hardware

* Video Port Expander Hardware

* SATA Port Expander Hardware There are no specific types of ports for different computers now days. All the computers from PC to Mac have all the same ports on them.

The advantages of using port expanders are that you get more ports more ports to use. SAS expanders take one port and make many out of them. So say you have one 6gbps, and you expand it so you can connect 8 devices. The total throughput on all 8 ports is only 6gbps, or about 80MBPS. Even in regular hard drives can do 80MBPS, so in theory you could see a bottleneck here, but in practice you probably will be fine. In Some cases SAS expanders are cheaper than getting an equal number of "real" ports.

Some disadvantages are a lot of them are external and that can be annoying and get in the way could use more power and if your power source isn't good enough it could cause problems when you add more devices it takes up more power. The power source can only handle so many extra