Anyone tried any G73JH e-sata hax yet?

Probably a ridiculous question, but I would like to hear any/all pertinent feedback regarding how/if people have hacked up e-sata for our Asus G73s. I don't want propositions, rather just tried and (hopefully) true techniques.

 

It doesn't have esata connectors on the mobo, I'm not sure I follow...?

 

You could setup an esata port via the sata connection for the optical drive.

 

Exactly. I've seen a couple companies touting optical bay hdds, but i was wondering if anyone has actually gone and done it, or unplugged the internal secondary and rerouted the connector to the outside to manually "create" an e-sata. hmm... regardless, probably a null issue, but I was just curious.

 

Probably goes without saying, but I would be careful about cable lengths (keep them under 1m) and not doing hot swapping if using an existing SATA connection as an eSATA connection.

The chipset has a specific eSATA port....shame it's not exposed

 

Question is does it have a connector on the mobo?

 

Hi there,
I'm about to try to connect this one to my G73JH's internal SATA port, just to assess to which extent the G73JH is able to provide eSATA functionalities.

In principles it should work, possibily without some specific functionalities, like hot swapping (something I could live without though...).

I'll keep you posted on this.

Best,
EnTiTy

 

@entity00 it's not pretty but I got to it one day: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/534638-esata-g73-via-spare-hd-bay.html



Hot swapping worked for me in Linux. Not sure about other OSes.

 

Is it any different from the solution I'm proposing?
It's a SATA to eSATA converter after all, isn't it?

Tell me your opinion.
Thanks
Best,
EnTiTy

 

I don't think that cable will work, it looks like it's got a female SATA connector even though they say it's male.

If you're willing to leave a long cable hanging out, this might do it: Esata Male To Sata Male Cable Red 18 Inches - Cs6605-18i - Cpu Stuff

They have a shorter 8 inch version here: Esata Male To Sata Male Cable Red 8 Inches - Cs6605-8i - Cpu Stuff

I didn't want a long cable hanging out and I couldn't find the right kind of male-male adapter so I had to chop up the adapter a bit (it's blocked on the sides otherwise).

 

Ah, I didn't notice this.
So the one you suggest me should be working on the internal SATA port at least in terms of physical connectors, right?

But should I need an eSATA female connector instead, in order to connect, say, an eSATA HDD ? The cable you're suggesting is eSATA male.

Frankly I'm quite lost...

Thanks in advance.
Best,
EnTiTy

 

The board side is female so it needs a male SATA connector. Actually that cable I linked is the right one for an enclosure.

 

My plan is to connect an external HDD directly, so basically without using an enclosure. For example a device like this one.

In this case, what kind of connector I'm supposed to have exposed, male or female eSATA ?

 

You wouldn't use esata for that, you'd need regular SATA cables, but you'd also need a power cable. I'm not so sure about that one.

 

Why not?
For this one for example

SEAGATE - FreeAgent GoFlex Portable 500 Gb

I'd need an eSATA connector, but I'm not sure whether it has to be male or female...

Any hints?
Best,
EnTiTy

 

Oh. You said no enclosure, so I assume you meant directly to the drive. An enclosure needs a male esata cable:

 

So referring to the cable you just suggested me, should I need an extra adater/cable to connect the FreeAgent GoFlex enclosure?

 

It would work fine for an enclosure, but the freeagent looks like this?



That cable wouldn't work directly, you'd need an extra female to female adapter.
Newegg.com - StarTech GCESATAFF eSATA Cable Adapter Female to Female

 

Yes, but it won't work because it needs a combined eSATA/USB port to get the power supply...

 

There isn't a regular power adapter for the freeagent? I'm not sure you'd be able to get eSATAp out of it... I can't find any adapter that would do that at least.

 

I'd go for an externally power-supplied device, like LACIE Rugged XL 1Tb, also sporting an eSATA connection.
I was wondering if your cable will work right out of the box in this case...

 

Yes it would work for that, my only concern is that tab on the left side of the SATA side in the picture, you may need to remove that.