eSATA?

Stupot_ · 24 Sep 2009 at 13:32

I have an eSATA port on my case connected to my motherboard...

I also have a hard disk lying about with a bunch of stuff on, windows, etc etc

If I buy an eSATA-SATA cable and plug it in will this just work straight away and appear as an external drive so I can transfer some stuff over to my new machine or will it want to format everything?

I'm using Windows 7 RC 32 bit

rpstewart · 24 Sep 2009 at 14:00

You'll need some way of powering the drive - you could route a spare power loom out through an open PCI slot for example. Once you resolve that then a SATA-eSATA cable is all you need.

Stupot_ · 24 Sep 2009 at 14:10

Oh yeh, haha, that's fine. I don't want to use it as a permanent storage/file transfer solution. Just want to grab about 200GB of stuff off it, making sure it's not going to try and wipe everything before I can access it.

Thanks! *goes off to buy cable...*

Greenlizard0 · 24 Sep 2009 at 15:53

You may also need to install the relevant drivers for it.

rexehuk · 24 Sep 2009 at 16:12

I have NEVER got eSata to work on my Icybox caddy... Tried on my old A8N-32Sli and current P6T. Went through a month of hassle with a competitor "S***" fill in the blanks as they originally sent the wrong cable, fought my corner and got the correct one finally and the thing didn't work! On top of this an employee took my credit card details, then on following up denied taking them, weeks later my credit card was used on another website to purchase goods!

If you crack eSata do tell...

Rroff · 24 Sep 2009 at 16:20

eSATA for hot plugging requires the OS to be installed with AHCI mode from the start - a few boards won't even enable eSATA out of this mode - but in most cases if you connect a drive before powering up the system eSATA should work just like a regular SATA connection.

rexehuk · 24 Sep 2009 at 16:32

Rroff said:
eSATA for hot plugging requires the OS to be installed with AHCI mode from the start - a few boards won't even enable eSATA out of this mode - but in most cases if you connect a drive before powering up the system eSATA should work just like a regular SATA connection.

I just had a fiddle before you said this and thought "I've never rebooted once plugging in the cable, wonder if bios will see it".

It seems all I had to do for the past year was reboot... I feel fairly stupid now! Now to enjoy nice transfer speeds

Rroff · 24 Sep 2009 at 16:37

hot plugging with eSATA is very hit and miss... even on my win7 install + AHCI drivers sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

rexehuk · 24 Sep 2009 at 16:48

I wrote it off when vista booted... then after 30 seconds it appeared in "My Computer".

Op, there might be an option in Bios to enable esata/pata, I have mine set to Enabled + Mode = AHCI

Mick-1965 · 24 Sep 2009 at 20:29

E-Sata on my old p5b-e and V64 works a treat.

Just plug a drive in and off you go detected as quick as USB.
It works so well I've pulled a few of my storage drives out of my machine and just plug them in when needed.
A little quieter machine and the drives should last longer

mrochester · 24 Sep 2009 at 23:27

My eSATA drive is connected to a JMicron controller on my P5K-Deluxe mobo. I selected AHCI mode in the BIOS, and installed the relevant AHCI drivers, and I can hot plug the drive.