Hello,
I have had this system for a while, and am in the process of adding additional disk space to it. It previously had 2 internal SATA HD, SATA DVD, and an eSATA HD for backups. I recently bought an additional internal SATA HD to store media to share to my HTPC. I then ran out of SATA ports on my MB (it has 4). My HD enclosure also has a USB interface to it, so switched to it. This is where my problems began...
Using my old enclosure, I could not get it to work reliably using USB. Sometimes Vista would recgonize the HD, sometimes it wouldn't. The Seagate diagnostics would fail on it. I also tried on my XP laptop and got similar behavior. I bought an extremely cheap USB cable from Frys, so thought that might be the problem. Got a nice gold plated cable, and seemed to work fine initially, but ended up with the same behavior. The enclosure was rated for 750GB HD, I have a 1.5TB HD in it. It worked fine in eSATA mode, but thought maybe that is the problem.
I went to Fry's and bought a USB enclosure that says it supports up to 1.5TB. Using the same gold plated USB cable Vista is able to recognize it fine and Seagate diagnostics pass. I am still encountering an issue though. If I have the USB HD powered on when I boot up Vista, it is not recognized. If I power it off and on, then voila Vista sees it again. This is very consistent.
I only use this HD for backups, so speed is not much of an issue for me. I need it to be recognized when powered on after a restart. This is a family computer, and my wife it not as savvy. I may just buy SATA card to give me additional ports and go back to eSATA. Is there any guidance you can provide? I have the latest BIOS for my MB, the USB HD is not a boot option, and tried Legacy USB disabled with no difference.
Thanks,
Mark
I have had this system for a while, and am in the process of adding additional disk space to it. It previously had 2 internal SATA HD, SATA DVD, and an eSATA HD for backups. I recently bought an additional internal SATA HD to store media to share to my HTPC. I then ran out of SATA ports on my MB (it has 4). My HD enclosure also has a USB interface to it, so switched to it. This is where my problems began...
Using my old enclosure, I could not get it to work reliably using USB. Sometimes Vista would recgonize the HD, sometimes it wouldn't. The Seagate diagnostics would fail on it. I also tried on my XP laptop and got similar behavior. I bought an extremely cheap USB cable from Frys, so thought that might be the problem. Got a nice gold plated cable, and seemed to work fine initially, but ended up with the same behavior. The enclosure was rated for 750GB HD, I have a 1.5TB HD in it. It worked fine in eSATA mode, but thought maybe that is the problem.
I went to Fry's and bought a USB enclosure that says it supports up to 1.5TB. Using the same gold plated USB cable Vista is able to recognize it fine and Seagate diagnostics pass. I am still encountering an issue though. If I have the USB HD powered on when I boot up Vista, it is not recognized. If I power it off and on, then voila Vista sees it again. This is very consistent.
I only use this HD for backups, so speed is not much of an issue for me. I need it to be recognized when powered on after a restart. This is a family computer, and my wife it not as savvy. I may just buy SATA card to give me additional ports and go back to eSATA. Is there any guidance you can provide? I have the latest BIOS for my MB, the USB HD is not a boot option, and tried Legacy USB disabled with no difference.
Thanks,
Mark