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    Help with RAID 1 with eSata Expresscard?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by MarkSchreiner, Apr 9, 2009.

  1. MarkSchreiner

    MarkSchreiner Newbie

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    I am trying to set up a system with a 2-bay RAID enclosure (in particular, RAID 1, mirroring), a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1520), Windows XP Home, and an eSata Expresscard (SIIG eSATA II, Model SC-SAE512-S1). Does anyone have successful experience with a similar set-up?

    The problem I am having is that the laptop won't recognize the drives (not in Windows Explorer, not in Disk Manager) when the external enclosure is set for RAID 1 and connected via eSata. It works fine via USB 2.0, but not eSata. I also know that that the hard drives are fine and formatted etc., since they work fine in the external enclosure in JBOD mode.

    In terms of external enclosures, I have tried both with a SansDigital MS2UT+ and with a iStarUSA v7AGE220-SAU--I get the same problem with both. When the external enclosure is set up as JBOD, then everything works fine via eSata and the Expresscard. So it seems that there is some conflict between RAID 1 and the Expresscard.

    All the Expresscards I can find seem to be manufactured by SIIG and have the same 3132 chipset. I have the most updated drivers.

    I would like to use this set-up basically as a convenient back-up system. I use the RAID 1 source drive as my main data drive, and it mirrors to the target drive. Each week, I pull out the target, take it off-site, and replace it with a new drive, which is subsequently rebuilt. Thus, I have a convenient systems for creating off-site back-ups. It is simple and cheap, what my small business (I am the only employee) needs.

    I have searched technical fora for answers, and while I see several cases where people had trouble getting RAID to work with eSata, I saw no cases of success. I wrote to SIIG support, and they just said that they could not duplicate the problem. I also worked with SansDigital and iStarUSA support, and neither of them could suggest anything, other than returning the RAID enclosure and/or that there was some conflict between the RAID 1 mode and the Expresscard.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
     
    MarkSchreiner, Apr 9, 2009
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  2. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

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    Sorry to hear that, I can't believe that the SIIG support didn't even bother to look further on the issue.. Try consulting your retailers technician perhaps?
     
    stevezachtech, Apr 16, 2009
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