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    T61: ExpressCard eSATA by StarTech

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by miro_gt, Feb 27, 2011.

  1. miro_gt

    miro_gt Notebook Deity

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    2 Port ExpressCard 54mm eSATA II Controller Adapter Card | StarTech.com

    I got me this 2xSATA card the other day after some extensive research, and let me tell you the funny setup of it.

    I plugged it in the slot and my XP found the new device right away - auto search for drivers .. and shortly after it's installed and ready to use, I did not use the driver CD that came with it.

    I've got me a OKGear usb/esata HDD enclosure with my 500GB 5400 Hitachi inside that I was using over usb previously, so me, excited, switched to eSata and plugged it in ... and nothing. I opened Device Manager - no additional drives besides my OS one. Unplugged, plugged back in the SATA cable - nothing. Switched over USB - works, back to eSATA - nothing. Checked drivers for the eSata card again - all is fine, up to date, beeps when I plug and unplug it, so it works fine, hot-swappable. Then put second USB cable in case the enclosure wants more power over USB to work with SATA - nothing. Restart the computer with the SATA cable plugged to the card - nothing.

    eww here's where I start thinking that I got screwed on the enclosure, and thinking that I would have to do some research again I went to crack me a can of coke. Some 2-3 min later I got back to the laptop only to see the new HDD showed up :)

    great - me excited again opened HD Tune to see how's my investment working .... ummmm OK, 1.7MB/s top speed, with my computer experiencing some strange freezes of ~3 sec on every 30 sec intervals or so. Plug, unplug, all that stuff above again - nothing changed, 1.7MB/s top. Phone rang so I went to pick it up, and 2 - 3 min later I got back only to see no more problems, HD Tune hit 80MB/s as it should, hot-swappable on the SATA side and on the ExpressCard side :D

    so it needed couple minutes to figure out what's going on .... LOL. Maybe because I have lot's of devices attached to my laptop: USB hub, keyboard, 2 mouses (one wireless), printer, DVD .. and monitor :D

    I'm thinking that this card could support RAID as well - the manufacturer of the controller chip inside (SiI3132) has drivers for RAID but there are none at the StarTech website for that part, so cant tell before I try it.

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    Overall I'm liking the add-on ports on the T61. This eSata ExpressCard gives me 2xSATA-II ports. Then I have found some old PCMCIA Firewire 400 x2 card at our recycling place which I took and it actually works too (as card, have not connected anything to it yet), lol.

    I guess later I can pick up a USB 3.0 ExpressCard and use it as well if I have to.

    on the sound part - you all probably know the X-Fi SoundBlaster by Creative that comes either as ExpressCard or as PCMCIA card. (I dont have it)

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    After 3+ years I'm still very happy with the T61 :D .. just that the battery is half gone.
     
    miro_gt, Feb 27, 2011
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  2. halobox

    halobox Notebook Deity

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    halobox, Feb 27, 2011
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