Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

9776

December 19th, 2009 20:00

eSATA Problems

Bought the top of the line Lacie 4 Big Quadra 4TB (~$1000) and after a month and a never ending list of problems cannot get eSata to work properly. See below for M6400 details.

Days of hours dealing with Dell and Lacie tech suppport. Lacie has shipped 2 units and they have the same problems when connected via eSata to my M6400. Problems such as unable to recognize 4TB which was eventually solved by connecting via USB, formatting GPT, etc. then switching over to eSata. Now eSata marks 2TB as bad sectors on disk error check which I did because of 1.3MB/s transfer!

Dell says contact Lacie. Lacie says its the M6400 and I agree with Lacie. No problems when using USB connection. Above problems are just a sample of the weird eSata problems which Lacie techs have not seen before.

Is there a specific eSata driver that can be uninstalled and reinstalled without messing with M6400 internal HD's (which are RAID 0, see below)?

Any M6400 Vista 64bit user running eSata above 2 TB (and no problems)?

Strong preference to sort out eSata on this $5000 (excluding monitor) M6400 but Lacie 4TB comes with eStata, 1394b, 1394, and USB cables.

So next on the speed list is 1394b. But the Lacie 1394 cable is the one that fits the M6400.

It looks like Dell made the older and slower 1394 available (which does not make sense). Does the M6400 have 1394b or 1394?

Can one have different connector ends on 1394b?

I'm hopeing the M6400 is 1394b but with an older style connector to make it backward compatible with 1394 devices. If so, where does one find a 1394b cable with a 1394b connector at one end and a 1394 at the other?

Last question for those with a 3008WFP. How do adjust the height? Do not answer this question unless you have one of these because the user manual is useless and DELL tech support cannot answer this (unbelievable) question on a $2000 monitor.

This expensive hardware was bought with the expectation that you get what you pay for and mainly to avoid (expensive) wasted time on tech problems. This system has cost me much more in wasted tech support time. Many Thanks to anyone who can assist.

Dell Precision M6400 Mobile Workstation (factory configured): QX9300 (Intel quad core, 12MB cache), 16GB (DDR3-1066), FX3700M (1GB), 17" WUXGA RGB-LED (Samsung, 1920x1200), 1TB RAID 0 (2x ST9500420ASG), 2MP Camera, Dual array microphones, Dell 410 Ultra Wide Band/Bluetooth, Intel 5300 a/g/n, CD-DVD (+/-RW GS20N), Backlit keyboard, Vista Ultimate 64-bit, Coolslice, E/Port Plus 210W Port Replicator, UltraSharp 3008WFP 30" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand.

12 Posts

December 20th, 2009 18:00

Does anyone have their M6400 BIOS set to RAID and using the eSata port with no problems?

In other words anyone using two internal HD's as RAID 0 or RAID 1 and also using the M6400 eSata port?

4 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

December 21st, 2009 04:00

Lavelle:

I'm not saying I know what the problem is, but I've heard nothing but horror stories about Lacie external drives.

4.4K Posts

December 21st, 2009 08:00

As you are running a 64 bit OS, if you have a spare PCI slot a possibility to get 1394b transfer rate is to get a PCI card, e.g. StarTech.com 3 Port 1394b Firewire PCI Card.

In UK, one site offering that and giving spec of that card is

http://www.dabs.com/products/startech-com-3-port-1394b-firewire-pci-card-3ZQX.html

I expect there are others.

 

12 Posts

December 21st, 2009 20:00

Thanks. If I go the route of returning both Lacie 4TB boxes and buying a card I may as well get a USB 3.0 card and a replacement USB 3.0 external HD.

12 Posts

December 23rd, 2009 07:00

Since I have had the Lacie box over 30 days vendor will not accept return and Lacie says nothing wrong with their product (they shipped me a replacement and same problem) - yes this has gone on for a longgg time ... and I'm running out of time.

Note that 2 internal HD are RAID 0 in my M6400.

Intel(R) ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E SATA RAID Controller
Intel, Driver version: 8.8.0.1009
Date: 2/11/2009

I am getting eSata transfer rates of 1-2MB/s.

Lacie 4 Big Quadra 4TB (4x1TB) configured by Lacie as RAID 5 with expected 200-220MB/s via eSata.


Any suggestions...

Add to LaurenceL's Reputation
No Events found!

Top