M6400 + Windows 7 64-bit + eSATA

Hi all,

I have a Dell M6400 running Windows 7 64-bit.

I also have an external My Book 500 GB with triple connectivity (Firewire, USB and eSATA).

When I connect this external HD with the eSATA cable on my M6400 while running XP 32-bit it works perfectly.
Attempting to do the same thing while running windows 7 64-bit will typically result in file transfer hanging somewhere in the middle (this also hang windows explorer). I then have to disconnect the eSATA cable to resume windows operation.
Note: The USB mode works fine, but the Firewire seem to have to same issue than the eSATA.

I am wondering if anybody else is having similar issue and / or anybody has any idea(s) as to how to fix this.

I can use the USB, but I frequently have to transfer virtual machine back and forth so I could definitively benefit from the eSATA improve transfer rate.

Note: I run the HD Controller in AHCI mode

PJM

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Dell M6400
Intel Core 2 Quad - 2530
4 GB Memory
2 HD (1 Patriot TorqX 128 GB and one Seagate Momentus 320GB)
BIOS: A07

 

I have the same issue, the only difference being that I have dual 500GB drives in RAID 0. Creating a Windows Backup image over eSATA almost always locks up the computer, and with restoring it's 100% certain.

Just doing some looking now, it appears that my external drive (the 1.5TB ST31500341AS) has a well-documented issue with freezing, regardless of the SATA configuration. Seagate promises a firmware update...

 

colsaunders2,

Thanks for the response.

This gave me the idea to try to look up for a firmware update for my external HD. I download this firmware (WD_MB_Home_1034_1_03.zip) form the WD support site and it look like this fix my issue. I was able to copy over 34 GB over from my WD HD.

Thanks again.

PJM

 

I stand corrected, the problem is not fixed.

It look like I can read from the drive fine now, but I can't write to it successfully.

PJM

 

have you installed intel chipset and intel matrix drivers?

 

Even though I am in AHCI mode, windows 7 would not install without the Intel Matrix Storage Manager 64-Bit driver (I picked the one for vista 64 since there was none for windows 7 64-bit on the dell website).

I did not install anything else (no chipset driver) since it seem that everything else was detected fine by windows 7. I could try to install the intel chipset driver and see if this help (I guess I will pick the one from VISTA 64 again).

 

After trying countless chipset drivers (the one from dell and the one from intel) I got nowhere (no reboot, and no change that I can see).
I then download the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" for win 7 64-bit from intel website and this did upgrade the "Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI controller" driver to a newer version.
After a reboot I tried again to copy data over to the eSATA drive, but no luck.

Fegato: do you have a particular suggestion in regards to the chipset driver?

Note: Below is a screenshot of Driver Agent (partial) report if that help at all

 

Hello guys,

what is the max speed of our Esata port on the Dell M6400? I'm only getting arround 135MB/s... which is rediculous, I connected a corsair p256 and thats the fastest i can get.. Running windows 7 64

anybody else know of this issue..? how can our e-sata get its max speed.. 200MB/s+

 

Uhmm, you do understand that hard drives have limited transfer rates? It doesn't matter how fast your bus is if the hard drive can't read the data at that speed. No existing (single) hard drive can read at 200MB/s.

 

Yes, but the Corsair is an SSD.

I'm sure I saw around 200MB/s with my SSD when I first tested it on SATA (on my E6400), but it's now inside my E6400.

How are you connecting the SSD to the eSATA port? We have seen a problem with one of the chipsets used in enclosures.

John