eSata connection problem

Hi all,

I've got a problem with my laptop and my external HDD. It recognizes it fine when i use the USB but as soon as i use the esata, nothing - nada!!!

I searched through the forum about it and found some similar cases but they all had desktop pcs....and they were all talking about the motherboard and stuff!!!

So what should I do with my laptop? I have a factory G1s.


Thanks and cheers,

 

Try update your eSATA driver and see if that'll work

 

I have the same exact problem. I noticed something though, on my external, it's an IDE connection, not sata, does that have anything to do with it?

 

Well let me take my guess. I have a free little 150gb external hdd I got as a gift from somebody and it has usb and esata. I have esata on my c90 and used it with no problems.

The mistake I think easiest to make for a computer noobie (not an insult just a term) would be to forget that esata is an unpowered connection, unlike usb ports wich have 5v of power there and can run a 2.5" portable drive on there own, the esata connection is going to required a secondary cord for power ether a ac adapter or the usb cord.

I did indeed see a difference between the two connections, when I had just the usb cord in it was slower than when I had usb + esata. I also confirmed it in my device manager. It automatically defaulted to esata connection when my computer knew it was there. Plus the usb cord splits, one of them is data + power and one is just power. So with the drive I have, if it didnt want to default to esata you could just use the power only usb cord.

 

Well, the drive I have has its own power supply. I can have my drive on for that reason, but my c90s doesn't read it.

I also read somewhere the the c90s connection for esata was a bit too long or something along those lines, and cutting off a bit of the plastic on the end of the esata cord helps to fix that by exposing more metal. I tried, but failed to do anything.

 

I never head that problem, but if you got power covered next thing to do is check your drivers and stuff. Also check your device manager to see if its even detected.

If its detected then your one step closer to fixing it. Heck I just got a new HDD for my desktop and thought it would be all plug and play but I didnt see it under "my computer" reason? I had to format it first and you cant do that from the my computer panel I had to go into disk management and do it there and poof! 5 seconds later I had a 640gb HDD ready to use.

 

Hi, sorry for late reply...!

Hum yea, powerwise i'm good, ive got it plugged.
My computer (and device manager) recognizes it only when using USB.

How do I do to update my eSata drivers???


Thanks for your help guys

 

Check support.asus.com for updated drivers.

 

c90S ESATA Driver: http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/C90S/E-SATA_xp_vista_070808.rar

 

Do you run your harddisk as SATA or SATA II? Most probably, your external case doest not support SATA II. Try to run it as SATA.

I did have the same problem with my external enclosure Vantec Nexstar 3. Currently running with Seagate 7200.11 750Gb SATA II. I've updated my G1S eSata latest driver from JMicron...but still the same. The problems were, sometimes it crashed or took a long time to detect my external drive. No problem when I used USB though. So now, I use SATA, and it detect almost instantly.

Some says that the eSata cable header was too short (8.8mm instead of 10mm) and wasn't reliable for a high speed transfers : http://www.redsofa.ch/cms/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=8

Yes..mine was at 8.8mm too....but not willing to cut it.....

 

Ok, with the updated drivers, my g1s now recognizes the HDD when using esata. But I can't do anything with it except "safely remove it"....!

And yes, it a SATAII hdd. WD Caviar SE16. What do i have to do to use it as a SATA.

 

There is probably a header on the hdd to change its mode. A switch or a pin that can be moved.

 

There should be a jumper to switch between 150MB/s (SATA) and 300MB/s (SATA II).

For example :

Seagate

http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/cuda_sata_block.gif

WD

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1337&p_sid=nnitNq2j&p_lva=1461&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NDUsNDUmcF9wcm9kcz0yMjcsMjAzJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9Mi4yMDMmcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9mbmwmcF9wYWdlPTImcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1qdW1wZXIgc2V0dGluZ3M%2A&p_li=

 

Thanks gjoey. I'll see if i can find a "pin" to insert in there as my hdd didn't have any.

 

If the initial HDD isn't a SATA, say it's IDE, would esata still work? I have an external that is an esata/usb 2.0 and it's internal connections are IDE and SATA.

 

Depends on the enclosure. IDE can be converted to SATA but it will require some hardware, if its just a direct connection then its not going to work.

Like this: http://www.computervideogear.com/sata/serial-ata-ide-converter.htm

 

Ooh, okay, thanks Vicious.