Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Message
0
8971
How to use express card to connect to hard drive via SATA?
Hi there,
I have an Inspiron 1501 and want to use the PCI express card slot to connect to an external hard drive via SATA. I'm running on Vista 32 bit.
I have bought a Silicon Image SATA Link Controller, which was detected by Vista when plugged in, and the drivers automatically found and installed. It appears on my device manager under Storage Controllers > Silicon Image SiI 3132 SATALink Controller and in the properties the Device Status is "This device is working properly.".
The 2 ports on this card are eSata and I have a eSata to Sata cable running from the adaptor card to a regular hard drive with a SATA port.
That's as far as I've gotten. I was expecting to be able to see this drive under "my computer" but there's no sign of it. As far as I can tell the express card is working but the laptop can't see the hard-drive :\
Does anyone have an experience with this? I'm a complete n00b with this kind of approach.
Thanks :)
Bay Wolf
4.4K Posts
0
January 31st, 2010 21:00
You might have to initialize the hard drive.
Check out this link.
http://www.bay-wolf.com/setupmedbay.htm
It was written specifically for setting up a hard drive in the media bay of some notebooks but the process is the same.
TheRealFireblad
4.6K Posts
0
February 1st, 2010 08:00
Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:
Here are a couple more suggestions by other forums members, if Bay-Wolf's guide doesn't work for any reason:
By Astrophel:
1. Start menu --> Run --> regedit: Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastor
2. Click in the right pane with the right mouse on Start
3. Change Value from 4 (?) to 0 and click OK
4. Close register editor
5. Restart the computer
6. Press F2 to get into System Setup
7. Set the Harddrive configuration to RAID ON
8. Save and Exit
After making this change - restart your computer, and all your drives will be re-detected by Windows.
Once detected, restart again, and plug in the eSATA drive.
+
As advised by RSM2000E:
First of all, make sure the eSata drive is unplugged from your system, until you complete ALL of the steps below!
Download and install: Intel Software Utility
Under the SATA tab, download and INSTALL:
1. JMicron Driver - REBOOT the computer.
2. Intel Matrix Storage Manager - REBOOT the computer.
3. Reinstall BIOS (I did this because my Tech asked me to, already had A13 installed) - REBOOT the computer.
4. Now - and ONLY now, turn on your eSata drive (make sure it's plugged in securely first).
JOY! The drive is recognized by Windows 7, and reports in the Windows Explorer with a new drive letter!