Windows doesn't pickup drive in external enclosure via eSATA connection

I just bought a new Seagate ST9250827AS 250GB 2.5" hard drive, this cardbus eSATA controller and this external 2.5" eSATA/USB enclosure.

The idea was that I would use the 250GB hard drive in my notebook (because I'm almost out of space on my old Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 80GB drive).

The problem I'm having is this: when I use my 80GB drive in my notebook and have the 250GB drive in the enclosure connected via eSATA, Windows picks it up without a problem. When I have the 250GB drive in my notebook (I've transferred all the partitions, etc.) and the 80GB drive in the enclosure, it cannot connect via eSATA. I connect the power cable to the enclosure, I hear the drive spin up, I connect the eSATA cable and nothing happens.

It does not have any problem connecting via USB, however.

I've rebooted, restored an image backup to re-install the controller card driver, checked the connections, etc. I'll test with another enclosure and hard drive tomorrow when I have the hardware to do so.

In the mean time, have any ideas? I'm stumped until I have the hardware to do some more testing

 

Wow. Thats kinda got me stumped as well, especially if it reads it fine with the 250gb installed. I'll think on it and see If i can figure anything out.

 

Actually, there was one problem with the 250GB in the external: while it did connect, I did have problems creating partitions on the drive, both with PartitionMagic and Windows' disk management. I used BootIt NG and gParted to create the partitions and copy things over, instead. Incidentally, they were connected via USB at the time.

At first I thought I was just being impatient because I had been running PartitionMagic among many other things simultaneously (PQPM likes to say it needs to be the only thing running). But, after rebooting and running PQPM alone, it continued to fail partitioning while connected via eSATA.

 

OK, I've got a Kingwin eSATA/USB enclosure and Fujitsu 120GB hard drive to test with, here are the results:

Code:

Enclosure	Drive		Connects
----------------------------------------
IOGear		Fujitsu 120GB	Yes
IOGear		Hitachi 80GB	No
Kingwin		Fujitsu 120GB	Yes
Kingwin		Hitachi 80GB	Yes

All tests done using my own eSATA cable and USB/power cable.

I'm thinking the chipset in the IOGear just doesn't like my 80GB for some reason

 

Weird! Check the documentation for the Hitachi HDD and see if there are any options for jumper settings.

John

 

I already looked: there aren't even any jumper pins on the drive!