Have you tried the HDD on an internal SATA port where it should work flawlessly thus removing any doubt about the drive itself?
The type of controller present in the enclosure will have some impact on how the drive is presented to the OS, as it can be presented as it seems it can be presented as either ATA or SCSI. Also SATA, eSATA and eSATAp have different electrical standards which can impact on signal reliability, especially if poorly made cables are used or devices and interfaces are mixed. This may be at the root of your problem. See the Serial ATA Wiki for some details.
And as long as the USB port can feed the power required by the drive, then you should not have issues. A standard USB port only feeds 500mA which is not enough to start a 3.5" HDD but the various newer high power USB charging ports can feed various maximum currents ranging from 900mA to 1.5A to a max of 5A. But it's not clear what is what as far as the USB punter knows, so one has to refer to the motherboard documentation.
I had high hopes for eSATAp but the specification seems to be not well standardized and accepted, hence some issues seem to occur. Pity really it looked promising.
So you may need to check with the manufacturer of the enclosure to determine what internal device interfaces are supported and what external interfaces it can 'best' connect to your system (considering the device inside the enclosure).
I don't have personal experience using my eSATA port. However, I've seen where it's important to use the most recent Intel RST. Are you up to date on that?
RTS... Do you mean Intel Rapid Storage Technology... if yes then I am checking. The Intel RST was set to Automatic Delay Start and I think the driver is 10.6.0.1002
../ I guess I just have to live without, which is no big deal right now. Too bad, I used to adore Dell, but this new system has been issue after issue.
I went ahead and figured out the proper procedure for installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) Driver version 10.0.0.1046 (found it at < www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats > and installed it tonight).
I'll post back after some days to let you know if it fixed my issue.
Ok, I'm back. I didn't need five days to figure out that the issues continue even with the 10.0.01046 driver. What I did was replace the eSATA cable that came with the enclosure with a powered eSATA cable (P-eSATA). My question now is... will I end up overloading or burning out the motherboard or USB port since the drive is now connected via eSAT and USB?
For now, I have some pressing projects (art/programming) due. So I am just going to stick with the stable USB2 connection... Thanks for the advice and help.
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
1
March 25th, 2012 00:00
Have you tried the HDD on an internal SATA port where it should work flawlessly thus removing any doubt about the drive itself?
The type of controller present in the enclosure will have some impact on how the drive is presented to the OS, as it can be presented as it seems it can be presented as either ATA or SCSI. Also SATA, eSATA and eSATAp have different electrical standards which can impact on signal reliability, especially if poorly made cables are used or devices and interfaces are mixed. This may be at the root of your problem. See the Serial ATA Wiki for some details.
And as long as the USB port can feed the power required by the drive, then you should not have issues. A standard USB port only feeds 500mA which is not enough to start a 3.5" HDD but the various newer high power USB charging ports can feed various maximum currents ranging from 900mA to 1.5A to a max of 5A. But it's not clear what is what as far as the USB punter knows, so one has to refer to the motherboard documentation.
I had high hopes for eSATAp but the specification seems to be not well standardized and accepted, hence some issues seem to occur. Pity really it looked promising.
So you may need to check with the manufacturer of the enclosure to determine what internal device interfaces are supported and what external interfaces it can 'best' connect to your system (considering the device inside the enclosure).
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
March 23rd, 2012 17:00
Hi Amark5000,
I don't have personal experience using my eSATA port. However, I've seen where it's important to use the most recent Intel RST. Are you up to date on that?
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2012 19:00
RTS... Do you mean Intel Rapid Storage Technology... if yes then I am checking. The Intel RST was set to Automatic Delay Start and I think the driver is 10.6.0.1002
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 04:00
Go here to update.
I'm not sure why, but eSATA is a bit problematic.
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 09:00
...at the las minute I cane across this < blog.dontneedcoffee.com/.../dell-xps8300-esata-problem.html >
is it worth a try?
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 09:00
../ I guess I just have to live without, which is no big deal right now. Too bad, I used to adore Dell, but this new system has been issue after issue.
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 10:00
... and how would I do this (the above link). I ask because the driver that I have is up to date.
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 11:00
The matrix storage driver is the old name for RST.
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 16:00
I went ahead and figured out the proper procedure for installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) Driver version 10.0.0.1046 (found it at < www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats > and installed it tonight).
I'll post back after some days to let you know if it fixed my issue.
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 24th, 2012 19:00
Ok, I'm back. I didn't need five days to figure out that the issues continue even with the 10.0.01046 driver. What I did was replace the eSATA cable that came with the enclosure with a powered eSATA cable (P-eSATA). My question now is... will I end up overloading or burning out the motherboard or USB port since the drive is now connected via eSAT and USB?
AKMARK5000
37 Posts
0
March 25th, 2012 14:00
For now, I have some pressing projects (art/programming) due. So I am just going to stick with the stable USB2 connection... Thanks for the advice and help.