The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    eSATA port problem...

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by Quikj, Sep 23, 2010.

  1. Quikj

    Quikj Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    112
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    My portable hard drive has both an eSATA and USB interface, yet only the USB interface works in Win7. The drive is recognized in the device manager under hard drives, but I cannot access its files.

    Also, my M15x refuses to boot with the drive connected via the eSATA port.

    Both connections work in Linux, so I don't think it's a problem with the drive, cable nor the enclosure. I've also made sure that the eSATA port is enabled in the BIOS.

    Any suggestions on how to get this drive working in Win7?
     
    Quikj, Sep 23, 2010
    #1
  2. Datus

    Datus Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    77
    Messages:
    263
    Likes Received:
    33
    Trophy Points:
    41
    strange one this, obvious and probably stupid questions but hey if i dont ask then no one will.

    how do you connect the drive to the laptop?
    i.e. one usb to round power pin & esata cable.
    if you have normal usb cable and esata conected at same time it wont work as it will see the drive twice and confuse it.

    have you tried usb on its own?

    does the drive sound like its spinning?

    look at my link in signature for combo cable thats the way to go.
     
    Datus, Sep 24, 2010
    #2
  3. Quikj

    Quikj Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    112
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I use a usb cable that splits for, where one connection is used only to power the external drive and the other is available for power and data transfer. When connecting via eSATA, I use the connector that only powers the drive.

    When connected the drive is spinning and the power light is on.

    I would happily buy the combo cable in your sig as it looks like a solid call, but I fear that I'd have the same problem. I'm reluctant to assume that the cable is the problem, as it works perfectly in another OS. Once I
    get it working though, I'll snatch up the combo cable for sure.
     
    Quikj, Sep 24, 2010
    #3
  4. Datus

    Datus Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    77
    Messages:
    263
    Likes Received:
    33
    Trophy Points:
    41
    sorry for late response to your last post but did you say it works on laptop with usb only?

    now pardon me again but you say you have a usb splitter and you think the one half only supplies power.

    have you tried just puting the power of the usb cable in on its own, no esata etc.
    i just want to prove that its not sending anything else but power as i still think (and i might be wrong) that windows is seeing the drive twice.

    you might have a faulty esata port or just have a device win 7 /m15x dont like :(
     
    Datus, Sep 29, 2010
    #4