Connecting eSATA drive

Paul -C- · 28 Jun 2007 at 15:15

I bought a Seagate FreeAgent eSata drive to plug into my Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard (which has an eSATA connection at the back).

Problem is I can't get the drive working with eSATA, only with usb.

Is there anything special I should know about connecting with esata? I thought it would work the same as usb, but I can't get either windows or the bios to see the drive.

I also tried using an eSATA to SATA cable to try plugging it into the spare sata slot beside my hard drive, but neither the bios nor windows picks it up.

Is there anything I'm missing here?

vanandjuanunited · 28 Jun 2007 at 15:17

Are there drivers for it on the cd that came with the mobo or a setting in the bios?

squiffy · 28 Jun 2007 at 15:18

Does the esata connector also carry power? (same motherboard btw)

Paul -C- · 28 Jun 2007 at 15:24

squiffy said:
Does the esata connector also carry power? (same motherboard btw)

I'm not sure, but I have the power cable plugged into the external drive and the light is on, so it is getting power.

Paul -C- · 28 Jun 2007 at 16:16

williamw11 said:
Are there drivers for it on the cd that came with the mobo or a setting in the bios?

The eSata drive is the same as the internal sata drives, so there's no drivers needed. I also had a play about with a couple of bios settings, but to no avail.

After some research on google it seems I'm not the only person with this problem, but it seems there's not really a solution to it :-/

Paul -C- · 28 Jun 2007 at 16:17

I wonder how long 150 gigs will take to transfer over usb

Thebug · 28 Jun 2007 at 19:12

on mine i have to make sure the esata caddy is on before i boot up else it wont detect it.

does everyone have this problem

Paul -C- · 28 Jun 2007 at 22:40

I think I've tried that. How do you know when its on? Is it just when the light is on?

Thebug · 29 Jun 2007 at 21:15

Paul -C- said:
I think I've tried that. How do you know when its on? Is it just when the light is on?

yes the light should be on

Indy500 · 29 Jun 2007 at 21:19

You flicked the switch to set it to eSATA? I know I have to do it on my Akasa enclosure...

fornowagain · 29 Jun 2007 at 23:20

Paul -C- said:
I wonder how long 150 gigs will take to transfer over usb

My eSATA MyBook would take less than an hour.

Btw, some of the eSATA plugs a need a little plastic shave to connect properly.

helmutcheese · 29 Jun 2007 at 23:25

eSata cable carrys no power, I gather drive gets power externally from a power supply.

You need a cable like this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-024-AK&groupid=701&catid=48&subcat=196

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA