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55852
eSATA drive on XPS 420
I recently bought a LaCie 2big Quadra external RAID array to use among a few computers. This external RAID array simply has 2 hard drives that I currently have in RAID 0. It can connect to a computer via USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, and eSATA. I need this because only my XPS has eSATA and I need the eSATA write speed on my XPS while I occassionally have to read the data through USB on other computers. Reading around, people are saying that the eSATA port is only meant to be used in RAID mode with an internal hard drive. This was never explained when I purchased my XPS and it even says that the eSATA port is for adding hard drives in the User Manual. It doesn't say anything about it only working in RAID. Reading around, I also have found people that have had luck with Western Digital drives, getting those to work simply as another hard drive just external.
I currently have one hard drive inside my computer and I cannot wipe any of the information (yes, critical information is backed up on a USB hard drive). I want to use my LaCie external hard drive with the eSATA port, but not in a RAID mode with my internal hard drive. The LaCie is already a RAID 0 array. It seems that this can be done. Dell advertised the eSATA port as an eSATA port for adding eSATA capable external hard drives, not setting up a RAID array.
As of now, when I plug the LaCie hard drive to my XPS 420 via eSATA, it installed new drivers for ATA Channel 1. and in the Device Manager, looking at the properties of ATA Channel 1 shows that there are 2 supported devices on the channel. This must be the LaCie hard drives, but....I don't see the partitions (I have 2 on there right now) pop up under My Computer.
dhsimon
5 Posts
1
March 24th, 2009 08:00
I am VERY surprised no one has mentioned this with clarity in any other thread.
I decided to risk everything and go with my gut instinct.
I attempted to update my the Intel(R) ICH9 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 with the ICH9 SATA AHCI drivers from the Intel Matrix Storage Manager package on the XPS 420 downloads page. Upon doing so I got a BSOD and my computer restarted. During the restart, even before bothering to fix the possible new driver issue I created, I went into the BIOS, switch Autodetect RAID / ATA Mode to RAID On for the single hard drive I had in my computer. Vista booted up, installed new drivers for the internal hard drive, and other IDE devices like my DVD-RW. and wamo, everything works. I plugged in my LaCie external hard drive via the eSATA port and now I see it as a hard drive in My Computer. There is no Safely Remove this device as the eSATA is like having the external drive as an internal drive.
Now, when my computer boots up, there is a new screen that appears for a couple of seconds for the Matrix Storage Manager. It says press Ctrl+I to set up RAID or change RAID settings. I simply just let the screen sit there for the 2-3 seconds and boot like I always have.
With RAID On in the BIOS, Vista wont even use the ICH9 SATA AHCI drivers I attempted to install, it installed new drivers it found automatically when Vista started up after turning RAID On. So the solution to my problem was to just turn RAID On in the BIOS....which as a side-effect turns the eSATA port on.
So to be crystal clear, you can have a hard drive or multiple hard drives internal and want to use an eSATA hard drive but not in any RAID mode. You turn RAID On in the BIOS, but simply never configure any of the drives for RAID.
I did NOT have to reinstall Vista or anything.
NOTE: I did update from BIOS version A03 to A06 prior to doing any of this.
TheRealFireblad
4.6K Posts
0
March 23rd, 2009 07:00
Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:
I don't know for sure, but the drives may just need 'initialising' on the XPS 420?
Open disk management, and check their status?
I expect you already know how to open the disk management console, but just in case: Right-click My Computer --> Manage --> Disk Management.
What is their status in the lower right window - i.e. 'Online' or whatever?
dhsimon
5 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2009 10:00
They don't come up at all in Disk Management. The drives come up and work just fine with USB and Firewire 400. I am pretty sure the eSATA port was enabled in the BIOS. The thing is, this external hard drive 'automatically' turns on when my computer turns on, and off when my computer turns off or puts the device in standby. None of this happens when plugged into the eSATA port.
I updated my BIOS from A03 to A06 and now I notice it says that I have to connect an eSATA drive for RAID mode or connect it in AHCI mode. I read up on AHCI on wikipedia. Any idea on how to safely get the external hard drive running in AHCI mode. At this point in time I am able to wipe the external hard drives if necessary.
cbene
2 Posts
0
December 7th, 2009 10:00
Has anyone had success doing the above in Windows 7? I have tried all the possible solutions posted here but cannot get my Fantom G-Force eSATA drive to detect on my XPS 420 in Windows 7 Ultimate.
revbilly666
1 Message
0
February 28th, 2011 10:00
Mr. Simon,
I was excited to find your old post explaining how to activate the external eSATA port on the XPS420. I seem to be missing something though. I can't seem to find the ICH9 SATA AHCI driver you used. When I go to Drivers & Downloads for XPX/Dimension 420 and open the section for SATA Drives I see three options out of nine that refer to Matrix Storage Manager - The application, a driver, and another driver labeled "Pre-Install Driver Only." I seem to be up to date on those drivers and when I switch to RAID mode in the BIOS I'm not getting the desired result.
Could you give me the filename of the AHCI driver you installed, or otherwise help clarify this for me? Am I looking in the wrong place for the driver? I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm not usually motivated to get this deep into my system. But, hey - I need my external eSATA to work!
-- Rev Billy
just43work
2 Posts
0
February 7th, 2016 07:00
i have almost just the opposite problem my hard drive crashed , so i bought a new one and installed it . it went threw the install but now when i take out the software it tell me no boot device . and at the end of the install it said that my hardware wont work with my software is thier any way that i can turn the raid off , i tried to in the bios but it wont let me switch it . Help