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    Problems with Seagate FreeAgent eSata drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by dietcokefiend, Jun 7, 2007.

  1. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    Finally got my eSata cable in the mail today, so I could test out my new 750gb drive. So far with 2 interfaces, one being a jmicron controller on my desktop, and sil 3132 controller on my laptop, I get nothing. No signal of any kind that the drive is even being detected. USB still works though, so I know the drive isnt dead.

    Being the only eSata cable I have, and only eSata drive I have... what are my options lol :confused:

    I am thinking about returning the 750gb external drive, and sticking with an ole fashion internal drive from all this hassle.
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 7, 2007
    #1
  2. mujtaba

    mujtaba ZzzZzz Super Moderator

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    Before doing anything radical, try out another cable.
    I think some jumper settings might also cause some problems.
     
    mujtaba, Jun 7, 2007
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  3. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    No jumpers anywhere to be found, also tried it with another FreeAgent eSata drive. Thing that sucks about eSata right now is no place sells the cables, and it all has to be ordered online.

    edit: sentence didnt make sense
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 7, 2007
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  4. Ur ex-wife

    Ur ex-wife Notebook Consultant

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    hehe i bought the Seagate Freeagent Desktop 320GB drive. works fine for my needs.
     
    Ur ex-wife, Jun 8, 2007
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  5. obsolete

    obsolete Notebook Evangelist

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    Really?! I thought eSATA was on the up and up. I didn't have any problems finding an eSATA cable where I am and it's a small city. There isn't a computer store of any kind where you live?
     
    obsolete, Jun 8, 2007
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  6. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    85k population, and we have our bestbuy, circuit city, walmart, etc.. just no decent computer stores. There might be one place in town that sells them, but it probably costs 15 bucks for some cable that might be 2 bucks online.
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 8, 2007
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  7. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    Well it turned out to be the cable after my friends same cable didnt work. Turns out the FreeAgent port is recessed slightly, and the metal connector sticks out slightly less from these cables making it not contact fully. A little trim later and it finally works.

    Bad News:

    eSata through this thing is horrible slow. Not even going faster than USB2.0, and it goes from like 26 to 13 to 26, etc... where USB2 was a steady 26. Crappy cable perhaps?
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 9, 2007
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  8. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    Here is an AWESOME hdtune image of this eSata connection. Tried on 2 cards, same horrible results.
     

    Attached Files:

    dietcokefiend, Jun 9, 2007
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  9. Gator

    Gator Go Gators!

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    You weren't kidding. Perhaps you could try another cable instead of jimmying the one you have to make it work.
     
    Gator, Jun 9, 2007
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  10. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    Well it was trimming a slight bit of plastic. I already returned the FreeAgent drive, and going to try another that comes with its own cable.
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 9, 2007
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  11. noegruts

    noegruts Newbie

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    The Seagate FreeAgent Pro line of external hard drives have a lot of problems with their eSATA interfaces. Seagate has (non-publicly) released a firmware update which does make the eSATA interface at least faster than USB, but lots of people still appear to have issues even after applying the update.

    There is a link to the firmware update on the page where I blogged about this the other day:
    http://blog.noegruts.com/2007/12/seagate-freeagent-pro-esata-problems.html

    Hope that's of some use...
     
    noegruts, Dec 5, 2007
    #11