eSATA - Dell Precision T3400 Problem

[EdP]

Dell Precision T3400, WIN XP Pro, Seagate ST3500641AS drive mounted in Apricorn ez bus eSATA / USB 2.0 case.

SATA board connections 0 and 1 used for internal hard drives, 2 and 3 for internal optical drives, 4 and 5 open. I installed a SATA external slot plate connector in an open PCI slot and plugged it into to internal SATA connection 4. Both SATA connections 4 and 5 were turned OFF in the BIOS, so I turned on 4.

I followed XP's Disk Management procedure to recognize and partition the drive as a simple single partition containing the entire drive, format it as NTFS, but did not assign a drive letter for obvious reasons.

Problems and concerns:

1. Although Disk Management recognizes the new drive, Explorer does not, so the drive is not accessible for use.

2. Apparently the drive is not hot-swappable as are other USB and Firewire drives I own. If the drive is not connected and turned on when I boot the PC, XP displays an error message that Drive 4 was not found "Failed to Detect Drive" and suggests to continue the boot using F1 or go to Setup using F2. If the drive is turned on before the PC is booted, then no error message is displayed, but the drive is visible only to Disk Management. I plan to use this drive as a backup medium that will be stored in another physical location and don't want to have to put up with that message every time I boot.

Thee's no difference if the drive is connected to the USB port or the eSATA port.


** How do I get the OS to recognize this drive?
** Is there a way to make it hot-swappable?

I've searched several forums on this topic, but found conflicting solutions (eg, activate RAID/don't activate RAID) or or solutions that do not pertain to the T3400 (eg, XPS420 problems with its eSATA connector).

Any help will be appreciated.

[Cricket]

Did you try assigning it a drive letter yet?

:) Cricket

[glc]

You have to assign it a drive letter to use it. I'm not aware of any way to make it hot-swappable without using a controller card, the Dell bios is probably limiting you here. I'd turn the port on and off in the bios as necessary or use it USB.

However, if you don't mind spending a little time on it, call Apricorn support on the 800 number. They may be able to help you, they are very accommodating and you will be talking to someone in Poway, CA. If they have a solution, please share it with us.

[EdP]

Thanks for the response, cricket

I assigned a drive letter and Explorer recognizes it. However, being a backup drive, it will not be permanently mounted. Every time I boot the PC I get an error message that the OS failed to detect a drive and demands operator action to continue.

It appears that whenever I want to use the drive as a backup, I'll have to assign a drive letter, reboot with the drive connected, run my backup, remove the drive letter, remove the drive, and reboot again. Doesn't seem to be an elegant solution to using an external backup drive.

EdP

[EdP]

oops ... didn't see your response, glc, until after I posted my reply to cricket.

I'll call Apricorn for their advice tomorrow.

EdP

[glc]

Once a drive letter is assigned, it won't have to be assigned again. It does not have to be removed to disconnect the drive. The only thing you need to do is turn that particular SATA port on and off in the bios the way it works right now.

[EdP]

Thanks, glc
That's a much simpler procedure.

I turned off that SATA connector in the BIOS and will leave it off until I do a backup. Then I'll boot into the BIOS, turn it on, and be good to go. The next time I boot the PC without the external drive connected, I'll get the error message that directs me to the BIOS where I can turn it off again.

Not elegant either, but much simpler than the way I was planning to do it. :)

I have a question regarding data transfer speeds, but I better make that a new post after I've done a little research first.

Thanks again.
EdP

[glc]

Data transfer speeds are better with eSATA than USB. It will be as fast as if it were an internal SATA 1 drive.

[EdP]

glc ...

I was referring to the 1.5Gb vs 3.0Gb issue/requirements/etc.

The manual implied (careful with that word!) that the jumper came from the factory set at 3.0Gb because it was identified as the "normal" position. I removed the drive from the case and saw that the jumper was set at the 1.5Gb position.

I swung the jumper block around and copied a few MB of data to the drive - it worked flawlessly, so I guess my board, chipset, whatever, can handle 3.0Gb.

Thanks
EdP

[glc]

In the real world, you will never notice the difference between SATA 1 and SATA 2. Those are just theoretical max interface speeds that will never be achieved anyway. I don't think the Apricorn internal interface is SATA 2 anyway. The only purpose of the jumper is to lock it at SATA 1 for old SATA 1 controllers that cannot handle a SATA 2 drive. I believe the only SATA 1's that have this issue are some VIA controllers.

[EdP]

>....theoretical max interface speeds....<
Yeah ... I read that somewhere in my 'net roamings, but I thought SATA 2 might still be faster than SATA 1, if not as fast as that theoretical figure.

>I don't think the Apricorn internal interface is SATA 2 anyway.<
DUH! Never came to mind.

Thanks for the response, glc
EdP

[EdP]

However, if you don't mind spending a little time on it, call Apricorn support on the 800 number. They may be able to help you, they are very accommodating and you will be talking to someone in Poway, CA. If they have a solution, please share it with us.

I didn't want you to think I received a solution to this and neglected to post it here. I used Apricorn's email entry page to send the details of the question shortly after our postings here and again on the 13th. I received neither a response nor even an acknowledgment that they got my email. Must be busy there.
Here's the content of my email to them:
===========
Using Dell Precision T3400
Installed a Seagate ST3500641AS in an ez bus dts SATA case.
Installed the eSATA bracket/cable in an empty PCI slot and connected it to an internal SATA connector on the motherboard
Using Win XP Pro, the drive was recognized and formatted by Disk Manager.
Assigned a drive letter, otherwise Explorer would not recognize the drive

Problem:
If the drive has a letter, then when the drive is not connected when the PC is booted, an error message appears that there was a failure to detect the drive during POST and the POST halts waiting for operator input.
In order to avoid the error message, I have to turn off that SATA port in the BIOS and when I need to use the drive, enter the BIOS and turn it on again.
This does not seem to be an efficient way to use this external drive.

1. Is there something wrong with my setup that requires such manipulations?
2. Your manual states that one of the major features of SATA is that it is "hot-pluggable", but you warn "Caution: Never connect or disconnect your EZ Bus DTS while your computer is powered on." In effect, this means it is not hot-pluggable. Why?
3. Both your site's registration and email pages request the product part number. Where is it?
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