Windows Vista Forums

Esata on Vista x64

  1. #1


    Michael Taylor Guest

    Esata on Vista x64

    I use an external esata enclosure. When I plug it into my laptop, Vista
    Ultimate x64 recognises the hotplugging and sees the drive right away, and
    handles it fine when I switch off.

    I have a Vista Ultimate x64 desktop using a motherboard without a built
    esata port. The enclosure came with an esata adapter plate that internally
    connects to a sata port on the motherboard. This works, but only if I boot
    the PC up with the external drive switched on first. If I switch it on
    later, Vista doesn't see it. I understood that sata eand esata were both hot
    pluggable, so I'm not sure why this is not working.



    Does the motherboard need a esata port to work with a esata based external
    hdd enclosure (to allow hotplug capability). I can purchase a PCI express
    card that provides an esata port, but I don't know if thats going to make a
    difference.

    Thanks for any advice.
    Mike


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  2. #2


    Dominic Payer Guest

    Re: Esata on Vista x64

    Your desktop needs AHCI enabled in the BIOS if you want to hotplug eSATA
    devices. This can be unstable for some systems.

    Without AHCI, if you go to Device Manager after plugging in your external
    drive you can scan for new devices and the disk will be recognised. You will
    either need to eject it after use, or switch it off after shutting down your
    machine, otherwise the correct signature will not be written to the disk and
    you might have problems the next time you connect it.


    "Michael Taylor" <mike@xxxxxx-mtcs.ltd.uk> wrote in message
    news:48B5777F-8A24-43EA-A6B1-65517EC3D41B@xxxxxx

    >I use an external esata enclosure. When I plug it into my laptop, Vista
    >Ultimate x64 recognises the hotplugging and sees the drive right away, and
    >handles it fine when I switch off.
    >
    > I have a Vista Ultimate x64 desktop using a motherboard without a built
    > esata port. The enclosure came with an esata adapter plate that internally
    > connects to a sata port on the motherboard. This works, but only if I boot
    > the PC up with the external drive switched on first. If I switch it on
    > later, Vista doesn't see it. I understood that sata eand esata were both
    > hot pluggable, so I'm not sure why this is not working.
    >
    > Does the motherboard need a esata port to work with a esata based external
    > hdd enclosure (to allow hotplug capability). I can purchase a PCI express
    > card that provides an esata port, but I don't know if thats going to make
    > a difference.
    >
    > Thanks for any advice.
    > Mike

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  3. #3


    Michael Taylor Guest

    Re: Esata on Vista x64

    Thank you Dominic, i've learned something new today. I've looked at the BIOS
    but there isn't an AHCI option, unless it's hidden. I've asked for help in
    an Asus forum for my motherboard (P5N32-E SLI). Also, I'm wondering if I
    enable raid and configure it as JBOD whether that would allow me to hotplug,
    but whether that would result in me losing the data currently on the drives.
    I don't want to re-install the OS if I can help it.
    Thanks
    Mike


    "Dominic Payer" <dcp@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    news:eirc99hgJHA.5572@xxxxxx

    > Your desktop needs AHCI enabled in the BIOS if you want to hotplug eSATA
    > devices. This can be unstable for some systems.
    >
    > Without AHCI, if you go to Device Manager after plugging in your external
    > drive you can scan for new devices and the disk will be recognised. You
    > will either need to eject it after use, or switch it off after shutting
    > down your machine, otherwise the correct signature will not be written to
    > the disk and you might have problems the next time you connect it.
    >
    >
    > "Michael Taylor" <mike@xxxxxx-mtcs.ltd.uk> wrote in message
    > news:48B5777F-8A24-43EA-A6B1-65517EC3D41B@xxxxxx

    >>I use an external esata enclosure. When I plug it into my laptop, Vista
    >>Ultimate x64 recognises the hotplugging and sees the drive right away, and
    >>handles it fine when I switch off.
    >>
    >> I have a Vista Ultimate x64 desktop using a motherboard without a built
    >> esata port. The enclosure came with an esata adapter plate that
    >> internally connects to a sata port on the motherboard. This works, but
    >> only if I boot the PC up with the external drive switched on first. If I
    >> switch it on later, Vista doesn't see it. I understood that sata eand
    >> esata were both hot pluggable, so I'm not sure why this is not working.
    >>
    >> Does the motherboard need a esata port to work with a esata based
    >> external hdd enclosure (to allow hotplug capability). I can purchase a
    >> PCI express card that provides an esata port, but I don't know if thats
    >> going to make a difference.
    >>
    >> Thanks for any advice.
    >> Mike
    >

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  4. #4


    Dominic Payer Guest

    Re: Esata on Vista x64

    I am not familiar with your board, but think you just need to enable RAID
    for the port(s) you want to hotplug.

    It would be wise to install the RAID drivers for your chipset before you
    enable RAID. If you enable RAID for your system drive port by mistake your
    system will still boot as the necessary driver will be present.



    "Michael Taylor" <mike@xxxxxx-mtcs.ltd.uk> wrote in message
    news3180D66-B88A-4BFA-9ECC-6616F27A1F81@xxxxxx

    > Thank you Dominic, i've learned something new today. I've looked at the
    > BIOS but there isn't an AHCI option, unless it's hidden. I've asked for
    > help in an Asus forum for my motherboard (P5N32-E SLI). Also, I'm
    > wondering if I enable raid and configure it as JBOD whether that would
    > allow me to hotplug, but whether that would result in me losing the data
    > currently on the drives. I don't want to re-install the OS if I can help
    > it.
    > Thanks
    > Mike
    >
    >
    > "Dominic Payer" <dcp@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    > news:eirc99hgJHA.5572@xxxxxx

    >> Your desktop needs AHCI enabled in the BIOS if you want to hotplug eSATA
    >> devices. This can be unstable for some systems.
    >>
    >> Without AHCI, if you go to Device Manager after plugging in your external
    >> drive you can scan for new devices and the disk will be recognised. You
    >> will either need to eject it after use, or switch it off after shutting
    >> down your machine, otherwise the correct signature will not be written to
    >> the disk and you might have problems the next time you connect it.
    >>
    >>
    >> "Michael Taylor" <mike@xxxxxx-mtcs.ltd.uk> wrote in message
    >> news:48B5777F-8A24-43EA-A6B1-65517EC3D41B@xxxxxx

    >>>I use an external esata enclosure. When I plug it into my laptop, Vista
    >>>Ultimate x64 recognises the hotplugging and sees the drive right away,
    >>>and handles it fine when I switch off.
    >>>
    >>> I have a Vista Ultimate x64 desktop using a motherboard without a built
    >>> esata port. The enclosure came with an esata adapter plate that
    >>> internally connects to a sata port on the motherboard. This works, but
    >>> only if I boot the PC up with the external drive switched on first. If I
    >>> switch it on later, Vista doesn't see it. I understood that sata eand
    >>> esata were both hot pluggable, so I'm not sure why this is not working.
    >>>
    >>> Does the motherboard need a esata port to work with a esata based
    >>> external hdd enclosure (to allow hotplug capability). I can purchase a
    >>> PCI express card that provides an esata port, but I don't know if thats
    >>> going to make a difference.
    >>>
    >>> Thanks for any advice.
    >>> Mike
    >>
    >

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  5. #5


    Clark Guest

    Re: Esata on Vista x64

    Michael Taylor wrote:

    > Thank you Dominic, i've learned something new today. I've looked at the
    > BIOS but there isn't an AHCI option, unless it's hidden. I've asked for
    > help in an Asus forum for my motherboard (P5N32-E SLI). Also, I'm
    > wondering if I enable raid and configure it as JBOD whether that would
    > allow me to hotplug, but whether that would result in me losing the data
    > currently on the drives. I don't want to re-install the OS if I can help
    > it.
    > Thanks
    > Mike
    >
    >
    > "Dominic Payer" <dcp@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    > news:eirc99hgJHA.5572@xxxxxx

    >> Your desktop needs AHCI enabled in the BIOS if you want to hotplug
    >> eSATA devices. This can be unstable for some systems.
    >>
    >> Without AHCI, if you go to Device Manager after plugging in your
    >> external drive you can scan for new devices and the disk will be
    >> recognised. You will either need to eject it after use, or switch it
    >> off after shutting down your machine, otherwise the correct signature
    >> will not be written to the disk and you might have problems the next
    >> time you connect it.
    >>
    >>
    >> "Michael Taylor" <mike@xxxxxx-mtcs.ltd.uk> wrote in message
    >> news:48B5777F-8A24-43EA-A6B1-65517EC3D41B@xxxxxx

    >>> I use an external esata enclosure. When I plug it into my laptop,
    >>> Vista Ultimate x64 recognises the hotplugging and sees the drive
    >>> right away, and handles it fine when I switch off.
    >>>
    >>> I have a Vista Ultimate x64 desktop using a motherboard without a
    >>> built esata port. The enclosure came with an esata adapter plate that
    >>> internally connects to a sata port on the motherboard. This works,
    >>> but only if I boot the PC up with the external drive switched on
    >>> first. If I switch it on later, Vista doesn't see it. I understood
    >>> that sata eand esata were both hot pluggable, so I'm not sure why
    >>> this is not working.
    >>>
    >>> Does the motherboard need a esata port to work with a esata based
    >>> external hdd enclosure (to allow hotplug capability). I can purchase
    >>> a PCI express card that provides an esata port, but I don't know if
    >>> thats going to make a difference.
    >>>
    >>> Thanks for any advice.
    >>> Mike
    >>
    If your laptop works correctly maybe you could look at the bios for it
    to see how it is set up.

    In my case, I do have external sata ports but they are on a separate
    controller from the internal ones. The internal ones have the AHCI
    option but the external ones do not. For my Intel board, the choices
    are IDE, AHCI, or RAID for the internal but just IDE and RAID for the
    external. Intel says the RAID option for the internal controller
    enables both the AHCI and the RAID. As mentioned, the RAID drivers may
    work, but it seems they don't in my system on the external controller
    with no AHCI option.

    Clark

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

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