eSATA drive not showing?

tech_144 · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:04

Ok if I connect the eSATA drive when computer is off then turn it on, the computer boots from that eSATA hardrive :rolleyes:

I don't want it to do that, so I disconnect it and reconnected after normal boot but nothing shows up in my computer, I have never used eSATA before am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

fobose · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:11

You need to have your SATA configured as AHCI (advanced host controller interface), as this gives you extra features such as hot swap (adding/removing hard drives whilst the PC is turned on).

Check your BIOS to see if your sata is configured as AHCI. If it is not, you will likely need to reinstall windows once you enable AHCI as it requires different drivers than the default SATA mode.

On a personal note. Your signature is waaaaay to big. It's twice the size as the forum rules state. 4 lines maximum.

tech_144 · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:18

Edited sig :>

How do I stop it from booting from this external drive then?

mrochester · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:22

In the BIOS change the hard drive boot order.

Superficial · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:52

as mrrochester says all you need to do is to go into your bios and make sure that your windows hard drive will boot before your eSATA drive - job done.

ChrisLX200 · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:05

Can be a problem though which drive it boots from, especially with ASUS boards from experience. What seems to happen is that you set boot priority, then it spots a 'new' drive in the form of the eSATA external drive and it promptly places that at the top of the boot priority list. So you go round in circles. I had this issue until I worked out if the real boot disk was plugged into the first sata port (0) then it stopped rearranging the priority list.

The Deuce · 7 Mar 2009 at 10:21

fobose said:
Check your BIOS to see if your sata is configured as AHCI. If it is not, you will likely need to reinstall windows once you enable AHCI as it requires different drivers than the default SATA mode.

Listen very carefully I will say this ONLY ONCE.....YOU DO NOT NEED TO REINSTALL WINDOWS, I've shown how to do this without reinstallation, do a search, better still search google and see what registry item you have to change

edit: go here...lol support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

fobose · 7 Mar 2009 at 11:17

I've saved that link to my favourites so I can refer to it in future

The Deuce · 7 Mar 2009 at 14:56

xlnt m8, a lot of people seem to be reinstalling with no reason to. It causes a BSOD if the registry isn't altered before the change