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Which cables, ports, etc needed for Adding eSATA External HD to Dell Dimension 9200 (XPS 410)
Hi, I have a Dell Dimension 9200 (XPS 410) with 2 - 250 GB internal HD's. I just bought a Seagate FreeAgent Extreme (500 GB) External HD and want to use the eSATA connection. However, I don't have any eSATA (or Firewire) ports on the outside of my Dell so I'm guessign I'll need to buy internal cables, etc to connect to the Motherboard and create an external port for the new External HD to plug into. The External HD didn't come with an eSATA cable to connect from the PC to the new external HD either so I'd also like to be sure I buy the correct one. FYI - the documentation on my Dell says I have six (6) 7-pin Serial ATA connections on the motherboard. If anyone can help with specifically what I'll need, and any tips on how to do it, I would really appreciate it. It looks like the Firewire cable is a 6-pin connector but if it's just as easy to install, I'd rather use the eSATA connection ans I have a lot of AVI files to backup and it would be much faster than Firewire 400. (I think). THANKS!!!
shesagordie
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December 9th, 2008 15:00
Robin.Berty
Check out the eSATA bracket HERE, install it in a open case slot and connect the cable to a motherboard SATA port.
Bev.
shesagordie
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December 9th, 2008 18:00
Robin.
If you have a open SATA port on the motherboard, then you only need the eSATA bracket.
After connnecting the external hard drive, you would need to check the system setup [BIOS] that the port is enabled [on]
Bev.
Robin.Berty
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December 9th, 2008 18:00
Thanks for the fast reply. Do I need a PCI card too or just this eSATA bracket? Someone else said: "first you will need to look at you motherboard and see what kind of PCI slots that you have free. The options that you have are, PCI Express x1 card connector, PCI Express x4 card connector, PCI Express x16 card connector, and three regular PCI card slots. If you have an express slot open I would go with that one."
The PCI cards are a bit expensive so I don't want to buy one if I don't need to. That person also said I should just use the USB port but I've read it's much slower and I have about 300 Gb of vidoe files, pic's and music that I wnat to keep backed up on the new HD.
Thanks!
Robin
TheRealFireblad
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December 12th, 2008 08:00
eSATA is indeed much faster than USB 2.0. The maximum speed of USB 2.0 is 480Mbps?
eSATA on the other hand, has the potential to operate at the same speed as an internal SATA II HDD - i.e. up to 3Gbps, which is more than 6x faster than USB 2.0 :emotion-3:
So if you have a free SATA port on your motherboard, the eSATA bracket linked to earlier is well worth what little it costs :emotion-5:
You'll only ever have to copy the full 300GB of video files etc from the internal HDD to the external HDD once of course.
But it's still worth investing in the bracket IMO, because 300GB over USB 2.0 will take (what will seem like forever!) quite a long time, even on a speedy system.
arvidhammon
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December 12th, 2008 12:00
sorry to jump on this topic, but I bought an esata drive, and it has a small cable that is supposed to connect to the mobo hdd led pins?
Can't find any info about this at all. Anyone know where they are on the mobo (dimension 9200)?
thx
shesagordie
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December 12th, 2008 14:00
arvidhammon
THIS will show the location of the SATA connectors on the motherboard.
Note: After you have connected the eSATA drive, check the system setup [BIOS] that the SATA connector used for the eSATA drive, is enabled [on].
For details of the System Setup, go HERE
Bev.
Robin.Berty
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December 14th, 2008 17:00
I'm waiting to get my eSATA bracket. :emotion-1: I'm wondering if I can install it on SATA ports 2 through 5 or if it has to be installed on the SATA0 or SATA1 slots on the mobo. I have not opened up my computer to see the mobo but I'm guessing since I have 2 - 250 internal HD's already installed, they may be taking up SATA ports 0 and 1... Also, do you have a link for instructions on installing the new eSATA port/bracket? I have NEVER installed anything in a computer so needless to say, I'm worried about doing something wrong or in the wrong order, etc...
Thank you!
Robin
shesagordie
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December 14th, 2008 18:00
Robin.Berty
You can connected the eSATA cable to any open SATA connector on the motherboard, remember to check that the SATA drive, is enabled [on] in the system setup, as I previously posted.
Install the eSATA bracket in any open PCI slot, after you have removed the 'filler bracket', see the directions HERE
Bev.