WD MyBook 1TB eSATA Hang on startup

[Five_Star]

Hi All,

Just spent a while getting my new Western Digital myBook connected and recognised.

I'm using a Akasa eSATA to eSATA Data Cable bought from OcUK to connect the drive to SATA port 2 on my dell Optiplex 745

The drive is recognised in the BIOS. The PC boots through the Windows XP logo then where the desktop should appear I'm presented with a black screen.

any ideas??

I've googled this and can't find much apart from making sure the cable is secure and BIOS updates - not something Dell are too hot at :s Also nothing in the event logs on the PC?

I really don't want to run this drive on USB

 

[Hodders]

Assuming that you are not trying to boot from the myBook you should be able to hot plug it once you are into windows as eSata is supposed to allow this.

 

[Five_Star]

Nope, not trying to boot from it.

I've shaved the end of the eSATA connector so it will fit properly (only needed 3mm off the plastic surround) but it refuses to work correctly.

USB works fine, i've reformatted the drive with NTFS and then swapped to eSATA to try the hot plug idea suggested by Hodders. The drive appeared in Windows, then I got a delayed write failed error then XP removed the drive from My Computer.

Could this be the PC itself? There is very little in the way of updates from Dell. Its using an Intel chipset Q965 Express but I've tried the Intel inf update and the storage manager updates but to no avail.

I've ordered the Adaptec AAR-1225SA PCI Express x1 2-Port eSATA card so I can use a proper eSATA to eSATA cable rather than going straight to the SATA port on the motherboard.

 

[Five_Star]

Stuff using the internal SATA to eSATA cable, BIOS and driver updates from Dell are less frequent than ice ages. The Adaptec AAR-1225SA works like a dream

problem solved