eSata drive can't be recognized!

[ninjazed]

Hello all, I have a system that I built in 2003 using an Abit IT7 Max 2 ver. 2 motherboard. I know it's getting long in the teeth, but it still runs great!

My problem is this, I have a Cooler-Master X Craft 350 eSATA - (RX-3SB-LAB1-GP) hard drive enclosure with a Seagate 400GB sata drive in it. The enclosure handles USB and eSata connectivity and it even came with the jacks. I can get the drive to work fine via USB but it wont even register with the eSata adapter port that I have connected to one of the two sata ports on the board. Please help me figure why this thing isn't working via eSata.

Some extra info: I have 2 80GB Maxtors hooked up in a RAID 0 array on IDE's 3 and 4. I have a CD drive, DVD burner and 80GB W-D hard drive (with the OS) hooked up on the 2 primary IDE ports. The only device I have hooked up on the sata ports is the one sata-eSata adapter jack. I have also dummied the hard drive down via jumper from 300MBps to 150MBps. There doesn't appear to be any jumpers or other activations in the BIOS. I'm stumped and would appreciate any assistance. Thanks!

 

[herm0016]

you may need the sata drivers for you motherboard installed. i remember having to install them with one of my other machines. just a thought. good luck

 

[Zepper]

eSATA isn't simply a mechanical connection. It requires BIOS and controller support as well. PCI eSATA cards are available (Vantec et al.) for around $25 for one port - it has an onboard BIOS extension to support hot-swap and other features of eSATA. I would think that only the most recent mobos would have any real eSATA support in the BIOS and controller for the onboard ports.

.bh.

 

[Doh!]

As Zepper already mentioned, the 4 yr. old motherboard you have does not support eSATA.

 

[QueBert]

huh? all eSATA is, is a cable that runs from a SATA port on the MB to an external drive. Some MB's have built in eSATA ports, but for those that don't, any MB that has internal SATA ports should have zero problem running an drive hooked up via eSATA. It might be more complex than just saying it's a passthru cable, but however it works it just does.

 

[Zepper]

Sorry Que, normal SATA drives are not removable. Now if you hook up the external drive and power it up before you boot the system, the system will pick it up as a regular hard drive, but you can't disconnect it until you power down. With eSATA support in the BIOS and controller, the external SATA drive becomes removable (hot-swap) just like a USB or Firewire drive but a lot faster. I believe you get a little tray icon for ejecting the drive just like you do for USB.

.bh.

 

[ninjazed]

Thanks for everyones response. I was able to get the external hard drive operating with a simple reboot. There were no special jumpers, switches or BIOS options, but the onboard sata ports do successfully operate the sata-eSata adapter that came with the drive.

The problem was that on this older board, anything hooked up to the sata port is not hot swappable. The drive had to be powered on first and then the system booted. With that process, it works like a charm and is blazingly fast. Much faster than USB2.0!

I am able to transfer a 2GB folder in approx. 20 seconds. That's what I'm talking about!

 

[Goi]

From what I've read, if you use a simple pass through cable, cable length is also limited to 1m instead of 2m. There are differences between the signal levels of SATA and eSATA.

I'm also curious, aren't eSATA and SATA cables and connectors physically different? How did you manage to plug a regular SATA cable into your eSATA enclosure?

 

[ninjazed]

Originally posted by: Goi
I'm also curious, aren't eSATA and SATA cables and connectors physically different? How did you manage to plug a regular SATA cable into your eSATA enclosure?

The eSata hookup to my external drive is an adapter. It hooks up to the sata port on my motherboard via a 8 inch cable which leads to the eSata port that is attached to a pci expansion slot in the back of my computer. This adapter and all other USB cables came with the Cooler Master external drive enclosure. Quite a nice package actually.