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M4400 eSATA issue

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by eurasianbro, Dec 22, 2009.

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  1. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    I have hooked up a Cavalry 1TB eSATA/USB 2.0 drive to my M4400 but I noticed that the eSATA connection never seems to have done anything.

    Whenever I transfer files, the speeds are 20-35 Mb/sec so it's clearly the USB connection and not the eSATA.


    I made sure I have the latest BIOS update and that eSATA is enabled in BIOS but I'm still not getting any speed changes.


    I remember when I first asked Cavalry support what could be wrong, they said I should be connecting the drive with both the eSATA and USB at the same time - that sounds ridiculous to me, but maybe that's how all of you have been doing it all along, I don't know.

    Can anyone help me out here? I checked the Dell driver page for Windows 7 64bit and I see nothing for eSATA, I also didn't see anything when I had Vista 64bit.
     
    eurasianbro, Dec 22, 2009
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  2. Nicels

    Nicels Notebook Guru

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    Are we talking about a 3.5" drive? If so, all you need to do is plug in the AC power and connect the drive using the eSATA cable. You should absolutely not connect the USB plug to a USB port, otherwise the drive will commute in USB mode.

    If you're using an eSATA cable only, then the drive is most certainly not running in USB mode. An easy way to check is to use the Safely Remove Hardware window: if your external drive isn't listed as a "USB Mass Storage Device", then it's not running in USB mode.
     
    Nicels, Dec 22, 2009
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  3. gauden44

    gauden44 Notebook Consultant

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    What type of cable are you using? A USB cable or an eSATA cable? Don't mean to insult your intelligence, but sometimes people can do things like this...
     
    gauden44, Dec 22, 2009
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  4. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    Well, the thing is that my laptop doesn't even see the drive when it's only connected through eSATA cable.
     
    eurasianbro, Dec 27, 2009
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  5. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    1. Is the external HDD getting power? This will not be provided through the eSATA cable.

    2. What HDD access mode do you have set in the BIOS?

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Dec 27, 2009
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  6. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    Yes, I understand, it's always powered through ac.

    I doublechecked to see that eSATA was enabled in BIOS but I'm not sure what you mean by access mode.
     
    eurasianbro, Dec 27, 2009
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  7. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    In the BIOS, System Configuration > SATA Operation: There is a choice of ATA, AHCI and IRRT. I don't think that the ATA mode supports eSATA.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Dec 28, 2009
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  8. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    Do you have both the USB and eSATA cables connected? If so, the USB connection might have taken priority and be used over the eSATA.
     
    David, Dec 28, 2009
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  9. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    Ah . . interesting, so which mode should I be on if I want to use my internal drive, eSATA, USB and possibly BlueTooth?
     
    eurasianbro, Dec 28, 2009
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  10. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Either IRRT or AHCI should ensure that eSATA works, but this setting does not affect USB etc.

    Another thing you can check is whether eSATA works if you remove the optical drive (which is also a SATA device).

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Dec 28, 2009
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